How do you turn massive amounts of public data into a customized, actionable benchmarking strategy that campus leadership actually understands?

In this episode of Data Stakes, Debbie is joined by Jon Gallegos, Data Analyst at WSU Tech, to unpack his recent AIR Forum presentation, "The Benchmarking Process from Initiation to Implementation." Jon walks us through the exact technical and strategic steps he used to build a benchmarking data store from the ground up.

Key Takeaways:

• Starting with Purpose: Why securing leadership buy-in is the critical first step before pulling a single data point.
• Leveraging IPEDS: How to utilize free, standardized IPEDS survey data (and why standard definitions matter for peer comparison).
• Building the Architecture: A look under the hood at extracting data with Python and structuring longitudinal time-series data within a Snowflake repository.
• Strategic Peer Selection: Moving beyond basic groupings by using clustering and cosine similarity to identify peer and aspirational institutions.
• Designing for Meaning: Best practices for data visualization in Power BI, using intentional color schemes and simplified matrixes to ensure your colleagues can easily digest the metrics.

Plus, Jon discusses a custom calculation—the Outcome Efficiency Index—that bridges the gap between campus finances and student awards.

In this episode of Data Stakes, host Debbie sits down with Dr. Jason Simon, co-founder of SCL Impact LLC, to explore the missing ingredient in higher education analytics: campus culture. While institutions often pour massive resources into technical tools and data warehouses, Dr. Simon argues that "adaptive challenges"—the human elements, relationships, and institutional norms—are what actually dictate success or failure.

Tune in as they discuss why data professionals need to step out of their silos, the importance of asking "why" before pulling data, and actionable strategies for building robust data literacy across campus. Whether you are an IR professional looking to expand your influence or a campus leader aiming to make data a non-negotiable in decision-making, this conversation offers a powerful roadmap for moving data ownership from "me to we."

In this episode of Data Stakes, Debbie is joined by Lee Howell, Senior Director of Administrative Operations and Logistics at Florida State University, to discuss a transformative framework for institutional research: Metric Strategies.

Lee breaks down how higher education institutions can shift their mindset by empowering staff across all departments to "find their place" in the data ecosystem. They explore how to move data ownership from a siloed "me" to a collaborative "we," the importance of challenging inherited legacy processes, and how artificial intelligence is quickly becoming an essential part of the metric strategies toolkit.

Key Takeaways:

• The Grassroots Approach: Why shifting data culture must happen across the entire institution, not just inside the IR office.
• The 5 Core Questions: Essential questions to ask about your metrics, including "who defines the rules?" and "what can people actually influence?"
• The 4 Roles of Data Work: How the Visionary, Analyst, Tactician, and Communicator collaborate to create a shared data narrative.
• Proving Value: How to connect daily, boots-on-the-ground tasks to the broader value and community impact of higher education.

(Note: Listeners can find the slide deck from Lee’s 2026 AIR Forum presentation linked in the show notes below!)