ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Grounded in the Powers Index™ of College and University Performance, this podcast explores what shapes institutional performance before it shows up in the numbers. Supported by the Institute for Effectiveness in Higher Education® and hosted by Kristina 'KP' Powers, PhD.
I sat down with Gray Decision Intelligence Vice President of New & Emerging Markets Mark Koveleski, who spent nearly 18 years at the National Student Clearinghouse before helping colleges and universities put labor-market and outcomes data to work. Mark calls himself a sledgehammer rather than a chisel, and our conversation lands on what that asks of leaders: getting new information into the open and moving it toward a decision rather than leaving it in the drawer.
This series is designed for leaders, practitioners, and institutional partners committed to building learning systems that translate expertise into opportunity.
KEY INSIGHTS
- Transparency and executive leadership move together, and the institutions set up for what is coming are the ones that bring new data into the open and act on it.
- Introducing labor-market and program-outcome data can feel threatening to faculty; effective leaders disarm the defensiveness by making it about intellectual curiosity rather than a verdict on anyone's program.
- Data used continuously across academic affairs, workforce, career services and marketing does far more than a portfolio review pulled off the shelf once a year.
- Workforce Pell is coming, and the institutions leaning in now to connect programs to outcomes will be better positioned than the ones waiting to see whether it holds.
Powers Index™ Signal(s) in Focus
- Signal 2: Transparency: whether leaders bring new financial and outcomes data into the open where more people can question and use it, instead of keeping it inside one office.
- Signal 4: Executive Leadership: whether leaders respond to what the data shows and move it toward a decision rather than leaving it in the drawer.
- Signal 10: Partners: whether a partner company like Gray helps a college get the right data to the people who must act on it.
Key Resources
- KP on IE newsletter (on Substack)
- Kristina 'KP' Powers, PhD — EdUp Institutional Effectiveness podcast host
- Institute for Effectiveness in Higher Education®
- Powers Index of College & University Performance™
