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Milner named academic planning and analysis director

September 21, 2004

Jocelyn Milner has been named director of Academic Planning and Analysis in the Office of the Provost. She succeeds Martha Casey, who retired in 2003. Provost Peter Spear appointed Milner as interim director upon Casey’s retirement.

Milner has a background in the biological sciences and biochemistry. She had 11 years’ experience at UW–Madison in research, teaching and administration prior to joining Academic Planning and Analysis in 1999.

The unit conducts institutional research and policy trend analyses. Examples include enrollment and tuition-revenue projections, student retention and graduation patterns, faculty salary and workload analyses, and peer-institution comparisons.

“The right data is essential to decision-making in a university as complex as this one,” says Milner. “Our job is to gather and understand data about our faculty, staff, students, courses, departments and other resources, and then convey it, in a relevant context, to decision-makers and other audiences.

“Sometimes our role is to be myth-busters,” she adds. “Often people are surprised to learn that the average time to complete a bachelor’s degree is shorter than it was two decades ago, the average undergraduate class section size is 29 students and more than half of the undergraduate applicants to UW–Madison are admitted.”

Milner also advises faculty and other university leaders on academic policy issues and oversees approvals of new academic majors and degrees. Academic Planning and Analysis also produces the Data Digest, an annual compendium of trend data.