Several members of the Analytics and Integrated Planning team recently attended and presented at the 2026 Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Forum, held May 26–29 in Washington, D.C. The annual conference brings together higher education professionals focused on institutional research, analytics, assessment, and data-informed decision-making. This year, AIP staff contributed to presentations showcasing UCF’s expertise in institutional analytics, benchmarking, and student success.
Chief Analytics Officer Dr. Paige Borden served as a panelist for an institutional data architecture session exploring how institutions can build effective data ecosystems that integrate governance, technology, and people. The discussion encouraged higher education leaders to think more broadly about their institutional data context, fostering dialogue around best practices, challenges, and future directions.
Dr. Borden also participated in a panel examining the impact of the updated 2025 Carnegie Classifications on institutional benchmarking and peer comparison practices. The session brought together experts from across higher education to discuss gains, limitations and future improvements of the revised framework.
Enterprise Data Scientist II Dr. Chiung-Ya Tang and Enterprise Analytics Specialist II David Stanford presented findings from an exploratory study examining factors associated with delayed graduation among first-time-in-college (FTIC) students. The presentation highlighted opportunities for data-informed interventions that can help students stay on track toward timely graduation.
AIP’s participation in the AIR Forum reflects the office’s ongoing commitment to advancing higher education analytics and sharing innovative research and best practices with the broader institutional research community.