With the nearing retirement of Dr. Alex McCormick, NSSE announces that Drs. Cindy Ann Kilgo and Jillian Kinzie will serve as Interim Co-Directors. Alex will remain as Director till his retirement date in early February. The School of Education is committed to doing a search for a tenure-track NSSE Director in the coming year.
As Associate Director of NSSE, Kinzie conducts research and leads project activities on effective use of student engagement data to improve educational quality and to explore issues of teaching and learning. She is a co-author of several publications and received the Robert J. Menges Honored Presentation by the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in 2005 and 2011.
Kilgo is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the IU School of Education. Their research areas include high-impact educational practices, the college experience for minoritized student populations and the facilitation of institutional change processes toward more inclusive and equitable campus environments. The 2021 recipient of the Association for the Study of Higher Education Early Career Award, Kilgo frequently consults with institutions on creating pathways to success for LGBTQ+ students.
“Alex McCormick has moved the NSSE survey forward with revisions and new modules that continue to make a difference for the institutions using the survey,” said IU School of Education Executive Associate Dean Vasti Torres. “Drs. Kilgo and Kinzie have complementary strengths that will be valuable in this transition period.”
“Dr. Alexander McCormick has led NSSE through a major revision of the survey instrument, helped keep NSSE at the forefront of the assessment industry and guided NSSE skillfully through the tumult the pandemic brought to higher education,” said Thomas Nelson Laird, Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research. “He has been a champion for institutional efforts to improve undergraduate education and a significant contributor to conversations about college quality. He will be missed as the leader of NSSE and a colleague here at IU.”
The IU School of Education is committed to supporting the vital work NSSE does; as part of that support, the organization will be conducting a national search for a director in 2022.