The mission of Institutional Research is to collect, organize, analyze, interpret and disseminate institutional data and intelligence for the purpose of decision-making, policy formation, planning and assessment of programs and activities.

The field of institutional research has been around for several decades but IR offices frequently fulfill different functions depending on the communities they serve. The Kenyon Office of IR fulfills several of the "traditional" IR roles of reporting and data management but also offers support in assessment, strategic planning and missioning, survey design, analytics and data presentation, and statistics. Here's some more information about us. 

IR Contact Information
IR Staff
IR Ethical Standards

Institutional Research Organization

There are two full-time members of the Office of Institutional Research at Kenyon. The Associate V.P. for I.R. reports to the V.P. for Library and Information Systems who in turn reports to the President of the College. 

Student Internship Positions

Student positions are posted annually in the Spring and are open to rising sophomores and above with success in at least one statistics or research methods course in a related field. Student positions are intended for two to three year terms once the probationary trial period is complete. Students typically work between 8 and 10 hours a week once they have passed their probationary training period. Student interns are given complete access to our work and are expected to conduct themselves as peer co-workers in all ways. Senior level interns are expected to participate in hiring and mentoring new hires. Graduating interns are expected to have the functional skill set of a mid-grade research analyst and professional standards to complement these skills. 

Institutional Research Contact Information

All staff can be reached at ir@kenyon.edu. 

IR staff offices are located in Chalmers Library on the fourth floor. 

IR Staff

Erika M. Farfan
(she/her/hers)
Associate Vice President for Institutional Research
Chalmers Library Rm. 411
farfane@kenyon.edu
740-427-5571

Caryn Reynolds
(she/her/hers)
Associate Director of Institutional Research
Chalmers Library Rm. 412
reynolds2@kenyon.edu
740-427-5163
Caryn works primarily remotely

Keiko Behrens '25, international studies and Russian
(she/her/hers)
IR Student Analyst
Chalmers Library Rm. 410

William Bryant '25, chemistry
(he/him/his)
IR Student Analyst
Chalmers Library Rm. 410

Jonathan Lee '26, mathematics
(he/him/his)
IR Student Analyst
Chalmers Library Rm. 410

Ahnaf (Nafi) Rahman '25, mathematics
(he/him/his)
IR Student Analyst
Chalmers Library Rm. 410

Melissa Vu '26, mathematics and Chinese
(she/her/hers)
IR Student Analyst
Chalmers Library Rm. 410

Ngoc-Ha Vu '25, mathematics and psychology
(she/her/hers)
IR Student Analyst
Chalmers Library Rm. 410

Former Student Employees

(name, class, major and honors. first pursuit after graduation)

  • Viet Dang '24, mathematics. Data Management Consultant Analyst at Infoverity.
  • Ever Croffoot-Suede '23, economics with honors. Finance and Business Management Analyst at J.P. Morgan.
  • Kaya Karibi-Whyte '23, American studies. Urban Ecology Global Fellow at Sweet Water Foundation.
  • Shanti Silver '22, psychology. Research Assistant at Treatment Advocacy Center.
  • Catherine Gonzalez '22, economics and mathematics. PhD at Duke University in economics.
  • Ana Dunn '22, psychology and sociology. Butler Hospital Research lab. 
  • Andrew Kotler '22, political science. Paralegal at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
  • Elisabeth Bradford '21, neuroscience. Ph.D. in biological science at Columbia University.
  • Sabrina Halavi '20, psychology and music. Mentor 4S Education Foundation.
  • Sarah Campbell '20, sociology and psychology with high honors. Trumpet Behavioral Health.
  • Ben Jagolinzer '19, economics with honors. GEICO.
  • Kara Braun '18, cum laude, mathematics. Eaton Corporation.
  • Mary Liz Brady '18, economics, the Office of Institutional Research.
  • Matthew Cooper '18, cum laude, economics. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • Curt Williams '18, cum laude, sociology, distinction in Senior Capstone. Cuyahoga County Council.
  • Robin Belton '16, magna cum laude, honors in mathematics. Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Montana State University.
  • Robin Dunn '16, valedictorian, summa cum laude, highest honors in mathematics. Ph.D. in statistics at Carnegie Mellon.
  • Rachel Black '15, sociology. Illinois Association of Free and Charitable Clinics.
  • Katie Finnigan '15, cum laude, highest honors in psychology. Ph.D. in psychology at UC Davis.
  • Brendan McGoldrick '14, economics. SIFMA intern, Cambridge Associates, Arlington, VA.

Institutional Research Ethical Standards

Institutional Research professionals follow a code of ethics and professional practice established by our professional organization, the Association for Institutional Research. The Code can be viewed here: https://www.airweb.org/ir-data-professional-overview/statement-of-ethical-principles/principles An important component of the Code is its attention to our obligations to research subjects, including the responsibility to keep data confidential. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about research and confidentiality:

I received a survey that says it's "not anonymous but confidential." What does this mean? 
This means that we give you a unique survey link. This is largely for convenience. By giving each person a unique link, we're able to 1) eliminate your name from further survey reminder emails once you've completed the survey and 2) eliminate the need to ask you for data that we already have stored elsewhere in Kenyon's data system. For example, we rarely ask your class, office, or department in a Kenyon survey because we can merge that data in from an existing database. This creates a shorter survey with less chance of a data error. Of course, this also means that, technically, your responses can be linked to your name. However, the link to individual data is never shared outside of the IR office and will never be published as part of our work. We will never report results that would divulge the identity of the respondent.

How can I be sure that my individual responses aren't being shared?
IR professionals are bound by both the code of our professional organization and those of human subjects research. Violations of the latter could lead to the elimination of all federal funding from the College. Further, as researchers, individual responses cannot give us the data that we need to draw generalizable conclusions, which is our primary goal. In fact we often don't release data when fewer than five people respond. Releasing individual data would be a violation of our responsibilities to our research subjects and it would create distrust that would make our jobs more difficult in the future. It's simply not something that we're interested in doing. 

I'm okay with some of the questions in the survey but I don't really want to answer certain questions if the survey is not anonymous. 
That's okay. IR makes it a point to never require question completion to move on in the survey. Answer whatever questions you're comfortable with. We'll use the data that you choose to share with us in our analysis. As a survey respondent you always have the right to stop participating in research whenever you want without penalty. For more information about your rights as a respondent, you can read about the role of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and the Regulations for Human Subjects research on the Kenyon IRB site. 

I have more questions. 
Great, feel free to contact Erika. If you're not comfortable with me, you can also reach out to Kenyon's IRB administrator, Associate Provost Sheryl Hemkin, who works to ensure the rights of human subjects are upheld. Professor Hemkin is also familiar with IR's specific practices.