Ithaca College

A tech giant, IBM, recently recognized the Division of Enrollment and Communication of Ithaca College as a “Smarter Planet” organization for its leadership in creating dynamic and positive changes in the global education community through smarter use of big data and analytics.

The Smarter Planet status, which is IBM’s highest client recognition, has so far been given to only five higher education institutions in the United States: Ithaca College, Michigan State University, American Public University, Community College of Rhode Island, and Wichita State University. These institutions are effectively using IBM-SPSS analytics to improve their student engagement and retention, donor management, and/or enrollment management.

Eric Maguire, vice president for enrollment and communication, stated, “I am extremely pleased with this recognition. We have access today to data we didn’t several years ago, along with great tools that help us make better, more informed decisions.” Yuko Mulugetta, director of enrollment planning, added, “We are very excited about IBM’s recognition. Enrollment planning, admission, student financial services, marketing communications, and information technology services all collaborate and try to reveal insights of the data through analytics, so that we can serve our students and families better and smarter.”

Earlier this fall, Maguire and Mulugetta talked about their enrollment management experience with data and analytics in the webinar, “Using Data & Predictive Analytics to Click with the Right Students,” jointly hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education and IBM. You can register at the website to view the recorded webinar.

The Smarter Planet campaign, which IBM launched in 2008, seeks to identify initiatives and organizations where forward-thinking leaders in business, government, and nonprofit entities are capitalizing on cutting-edge technologies to create the smarter planet through economic growth, operation efficiency, sustainable development, and social progress.