Office of Institutional Research, 1940+ | Northern Illinois University

Most of the records in this record group date before 1973 from the Bureau of University Research.  There are eleven broad subject areas which the BUR used to organize its research: Enrollment Statistics and Projections, Faculty Salaries, Student Demographics, Grade Analyses, Courses Offered, Institutional Growth Projections, Staff Loads, Academic Standing, Space Allocation and Needs, Cost Analyses, and special ad hoc reports and surveys.  The Student Profiles from 1973 to 1989, and the Data Books from 1990 to the present, are especially valuable in demographic research.  This record group, though small in volume, provides an opportunity to gather a detailed overall picture of an institution in transition from a small teacher's college in 1950 to a large major university in the 1970's.  Researchers using this record group should consult the University Archives holdings from the Office of Vice President for Finance and Planning.

In 1957 President Leslie Holmes created the Bureau of University Research to strengthen and expand the university's ability to analyze current operations and to plan for the future.  Holmes appointed Sociology Professor Charles E. Howell to head the new unit since Howell had been working in institutional research on a part time basis since 1950.  The growth of the 1960's brought institutional planning and analysis to the fore in university administration, and in 1973 President Richard Nelson split the BUR into an Analytical Studies Office and a Space Analysis Office.  Analytical Studies became the Office of Institutional Research under a newly created Office of the Vice President for Administrative Affairs in 1983.  In 1985, Administrative Affairs became the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Planning.