UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — More than 700 members of the Penn State community made up a record-breaking number of attendees at this year’s Data Summit, held online Feb. 2 and 3. The University-wide event, themed, “Traversing a Universe of Data,” also set a new best for its impressive number of presenters, with more than 700 data professionals sharing insight and ideas on best practices, tools and techniques around data analysis, use and visualization.
“The Data Summit promotes the sharing of innovative ways for modeling and visualizing institutional data, ensuring data security, protecting privacy, and using data to inform administrative decisions at the University,” said Associate Vice Provost for Institutional Research Karen Vance. “This annual event affords data professionals with the opportunity to share and acquire knowledge with the common goal of establishing a robust data culture at Penn State.”
For the first time in the event’s four-year history (the event was previously held in 2017, 2018 and 2021), organizers solicited for presentations by asking prospective participants to submit ideas focusing on their professional passions and what they’d like to see included as part of the conference. The voluntary proposal process set the tone for presenters to have ownership of how the event took shape.
“The speakers were incredibly enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with the audience, and the audience was highly receptive and engaged,” said Shannon Lee, research associate with OPAIR and Data Summit planning committee chair. “It was exciting to see the breadth of presentations and how they related back to data-informed decision-making in various capacities at the University.”
The conference was divided into two half-day sessions and included five distinct discussion tracks: uses of data and data literacy; data ethics, security and privacy; systems technology (tools and approaches); assessment, evaluation, and planning; and diversity, equity and inclusion. Two pre-conference training sessions — "Data Visualization Best Practices" and "Introduction to Power BI for Data Analysts and Visualization" — were offered the preceding week in collaboration with the University Libraries Research Informatics and Publishing.
An executive roundtable kicked off the conference with Nicholas P. Jones, executive vice president and provost; Renata Engel, vice provost for Online Education; Michael Büsges, interim vice president and CIO; and Lance Kennedy-Phillips, vice provost for Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research, offering welcoming remarks to attendees.
Leah Ewing Ross, associate deputy director of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), served as the keynote speaker for the event. Ewing Ross leads AIR’s national research, scholarship and innovation agenda to effectively position IR and related fields within the changing landscape of higher education. She partners with stakeholders to create forward-looking models to advance evidence-based decision-making and to equip higher education professionals with the knowledge and tools they need as leaders within their organizations.
This year’s Data Summit also included unique water-cooler breakout sessions that offered participants a more informal opportunity to engage in discussions around areas of interest, share ideas and connect with colleagues in a virtual world.
The 2022 Data Summit was sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research; Office of the Vice Provost for Online Education; Office of the Vice President for Information Technology; Institutional Research Interest Group; and Penn State’s Power BI Community of Practice.
For more information on the Data Summit, including PowerPoint materials and recorded sessions from the event, visit the Data Summit web page.