[Important Information for Students] Data Matters: Monthly Insights and Updates from Institutional Effectiveness | May 2025

Thu May 15 14:28:22 UTC 2025

As we wrap up the academic year, this issue of Data Matters highlights a
range of initiatives aimed at strengthening student success—from counseling
center data to updates on our Student Success Dashboards. We also spotlight
student perspectives on Plattsburgh Next and invite you to try this month’s
Data Challenge. Before we head into our summer pause, take a moment to
explore what’s new and what’s next in the Office of Institutional
Effectiveness.

Data Spotlight: Strengthen Student Success

This month, we highlight data from the Student Health & Counseling Center
(SHCC), a key resource to strengthen student success. The below graph
displays the number of appointments per full-time medical provider or
counselor over the  past three years. In total, the SHCC had over 17,000
visits. This does not include the number of front desk staff members’
telephone and in-person encounters or messaging through the patient portal.
Notably, the SHCC has not had a waitlist for counseling services in over
two years and it is one of the few places where students can get a same-day
appointment for medical services.

Got Data? Presentation - TODAY, May 15 at 11 a.m.

Our next Got Data? presentation features ACE Program Director Sara Munson.
Sara will share information about the impact of the ACE Program and
evaluate various program interventions. The event will be held on Thursday,
May 15, from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Alumni Conference Room of the ACC.
Light refreshments will be served. If you are interested in presenting at a
future Got Data? event, contact us at OIE at plattsburgh.edu.

Student Perceptions of Plattsburgh Next

Earlier this semester, we shared with you information about a survey
conducted by OIE and Public Relations intern Maggie Goff to evaluate
student awareness and opinion of Plattsburgh Next. This led to a PR
campaign to promote student awareness by highlighting student stories. An
example of these stories is provided below and others are attached to this
email.

Before this campaign, 86% of students indicated that they were not aware of
Plattsburgh Next. Following this campaign, this number dropped to 40%, with
90% of survey respondents indicating they had seen the student stories
posted online and around campus. The number of students who were aware of
any pillar also rose following the campaign from 30% to 60% and students
also reported an increase in the perceived value of each of the four
pillars.

Promoting North Country Student Success

OIE graduate fellow Bidushi Bhowmik has been leading a project to evaluate
challenges and opportunities encountered by North Country students during
their studies at SUNY Plattsburgh. Although this work is ongoing,
preliminary findings include the following:

   -

   There’s an opportunity to strengthen campus connections for commuter
   students, many of whom are eager for more meaningful engagement beyond the
   classroom.
   -

   Programs like ARO, TRIO SSS, and strong faculty communication stand out
   as valued supports—expanding awareness of these can help more students
   thrive.
   -

   Addressing winter travel challenges and offering flexible scheduling can
   make it easier for commuters to stay involved and succeed.
   -

   Enhancing orientation with commuter-focused content could set a more
   supportive tone from the start and better connect students to helpful
   resources.

Despite encountering some obstacles, students expressed strong motivation
and determination to succeed, emphasizing the importance of flexibility,
clearer communication, and personalized support.

Data Challenge

It’s a battle of the sciences! This month, we look at the hard sciences
here at SUNY Plattsburgh to explore the use and utility of radar charts
<https://datavizcatalogue.com/methods/radar_chart.html>. They can be useful
for comparing distinct things across several metrics at once, however they
can also be difficult to interpret. Consider this dataset
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H9jOTey9Sm3oY2PDaAAuDOQyFCCTsGvf/view?usp=sharing>,
aggregated course grades from two randomly selected past academic years.
There are a few directions you could take your analysis to make meaningful
comparisons–the choice is yours! We are interested in seeing how you might
use these data to make a radar chart and consider the pros and cons of this
visualization technique. As you work through the challenge, it can be handy
to document the choices you make as you transform the data. This helps
others more deeply understand the analysis. For example, you’ll see that
the number of grades in each discipline is different. You might then decide
to work with proportions instead of raw counts so that trends aren’t
skewed. Good luck!

Feel free to use whichever tool or platform you are comfortable with. We
would love to hear from each of you participating as your work may help
inform future organizational analysis! Your visualization, KPI, or story
could even be featured in the following month’s newsletter.  If you’re
interested in participating but aren’t sure where to start, please contact
Levi Martinez (Lmart008 at plattsburgh.edu).

As we wrap up this issue, we’d like to extend our heartfelt congratulations
to OIE interns Brandon Craft and Maggie Goff as they prepare to graduate.
We’ve been fortunate to benefit from their talent and dedication during
their time at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Data Matters will be on summer break and return in August—but we’re still
here on the third floor of Kehoe if you need us!

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Erin Campbell | Associate Director, Coordinator for Institutional Research

Kylie King | Director

Levi Martinez | Data Analyst

Bidushi Bhowmik | Graduate Fellow and Qualitative Data Specialist

Brandon Craft | Intern and Visualization Specialist

Maggie Goff | Intern and PR Specialist

-- 
*Institutional effectiveness*
Office of the President
Kehoe 313B
101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
plattsburgh.edu
*Have an idea? Share it here!* <https://bit.ly/3yYzLkN>

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