Lumina Project:

To study the relationship between state and institutional policies to better understand how institutional policymakers and institutional leaders can work together to reduce the rates of college student departure. Our project consists of several phases. 

 

One of the most important phases of our project focuses on understanding student persistence at individual colleges and universities.  We are particularly interested in developing such an understanding in collegiate institutions that largely serve a commuting student body. For this reason, we have selected your university to receive an invitation to participate in this phase of our project.

 

We would like to conduct a study of student persistence at your university.  In addition to understanding the various factors that foster or inhibit student persistence at your university, we are also interested in identifying policies, procedures, programs and activities that encourage student persistence. Your university’s involvement would consist of only drawing a sample of students according to our specifications, administering a survey to these selected students during Spring 2008 and then providing information on the Fall 2008 re-enrollment of the students who took the survey during Spring 2008. We would provide the surveys, data entry, and data analysis necessary for this study. We would also write a report communicating the findings.  We would also come to your campus during the 2008-2009 academic year to present the findings to audiences at your university. The identity of your college or university will not be revealed in any reports or publications that result from this project. 


Wabash Project:

The Center of Inquiry is leading the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, a large-scale, longitudinal study to investigate critical factors that affect the outcomes of liberal arts education. Our research is designed to help colleges and universities improve student learning and enhance the educational impact of their programs.

The Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education has two fundamental goals:

• To learn what teaching practices, programs, and institutional structures support liberal arts education
  
• To develop methods of assessing liberal arts education

In order to achieve these goals, we are focusing on key liberal arts outcomes, using both quantitative and qualitative research, and examining students as well as institutions. 

- project website