President’s Letter – July 2024

It’s been a whole year since that great conference in Lafayette – can you believe it?!  And now we’re headed into the 2024 LAIR conference themed “Big Data in BR”.  We’ve gotten almost 70 registrations already, but you still have time to register online.

The conference will start on Tuesday morning with a kickoff and business meeting.  Have you considered serving in a LAIR leadership role?  We’ll be electing a new secretary and vice-president, and nominations are being accepted through July 5.  Email nominations to me at mitchelldawn@nsula.edu or Steven at stevenb1@lsu.edu.

Breakout sessions will follow in the morning and workshops in the afternoon.  Plan to hang out with your colleagues at the reception that evening at a super-cool venue called “The Bulldog”.

Last year you asked to see more technology-based sessions such as PowerBI, Tableau, AI, and data preparation.  You asked for a BoR reporting guidelines session and more IE/Assessment participation in conference.  And you’d like to hear IR case studies where the data has been used to bring about change at institutions.  This year’s conference has sessions to address all these requests.

Last year Dr. Charles Miller (South Louisiana Community College), was honored with LAIR’s first Leadership and Service Award in recognition of his contributions to the profession: advancing the work of IR, generously guiding and mentoring others, and promoting the ethical principles of IR. This year Dr. Miller will sit on two panels, sharing his experiences, along with other IR leaders.

Huge thanks for Steven, Melissa, Andrea, and Dane for all their work on pulling this conference together and for all of your contributions!  Can’t wait to see you at LAIR 2024!

Dawn Mitchell