Knight elected to national research organization office

William Knight, director of planning and institutional research, has been elected associate forum chair of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR). He will begin his three-year term on the board in June.

As part of his duties, Knight will chair the organization’s national conference in May 2006, to be held in New Orleans. Expected attendance at the event is 1,200–1,900 members.

William Knight

AIR is a professional association of more than 3,100 institutional researchers, planners and decision-makers from higher education institutions around the world. AIR benefits its members and helps advance research that will improve the understanding, planning, and operation of higher education institutions. It is governed by an 11-member volunteer board of directors elected by the membership.

Since its incorporation in 1965, AIR has grown to be a respected voice on higher education issues at the federal level. There are six international member associations and 43 state, regional and sector associations.

Knight has served on numerous AIR committees and as editor of the revised Primer for Institutional Research produced by the organization. Active in regional and state institutional research associations since 1998, he has served as the four-year public university representative, vice president and president of the Ohio Association for Institutional Research and Planning. He is also a member of the Northeast Association for Institutional Research.

Knight received a Ph.D. in higher education administration, with a cognate in institutional research, from Kent State University in 1992. He earned his M.Ed. in higher education/student personnel from Kent State in 1989.

He has been at BGSU since 1996 and is also an adjunct assistant professor of higher education. Previously, he was director of institutional research at Georgia Southern University, where he was also an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Technology, and Research. Knight was a Visiting Scholar in the Program in Higher and Adult Continuing Education/Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan in 1992.