TENNAIR 2026

This session provides a comprehensive overview of TICUA’s most recent statewide economic impact study, which examines the combined contributions of Tennessee’s 34 private colleges and universities on the state. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how institutional spending, student expenditures, alumni earnings, and workforce alignment contribute to a collective $22.4 billion annual impact and support more than 135,000 jobs statewide. The presentation will also highlight key data sources, methodology, and assumptions, equipping attendees to better interpret economic impact findings and apply them within their own institutional or policy contexts.

Innovation requires more than bold ideas—it requires alignment and accountability. This session highlights JSCC’s six-month, inclusive strategic planning process that intentionally brought diverse voices into tune to define a shared, measurable direction.

The process began with a review and revision of the mission statement, followed by parallel work from five subcommittees focused on Academic Innovation, Financial Vitality, Student Success, Workforce Partnerships, and Institutional Culture. Employees, students, and community partners contributed through a comprehensive survey, ensuring broad engagement and shared ownership.

This collaboration produced six strategic pillars—Relationships, Resources, Reputation, Reach, Relevance, and Results—each supported by a strategic goal and priorities. High-level KPIs were developed for each goal and are reviewed annually to track progress. Unit?level Institutional Effectiveness plans align expected outcomes to the strategic goals and priorities, reinforcing coherence and support across the five-year plan.

Shared values emerged—student-centered care; momentum and growth; reliability and stewardship; grit, culture, and community pride; and opportunity and promise—shaping the vision: JSCC is a catalyst for opportunity where students, partners, and communities see their future through education. Together, these elements formed the plan’s theme, SEE JSCC—Strengthen, Empower, Enhance, drawn from the revised mission.

Participants will gain practical insights into building an inclusive, data-informed strategic planning process that aligns innovation with mission, values, and measurable outcomes.

What if your survey dashboard didn’t just show results, but let users explore, compare, and ask better questions in real time? This presentation is a hands-on guide to building interactive survey visualizations that are reliable and scalable. The first half will focus on the backend infrastructure required to support complex survey data over multiple years, including data modeling, performance considerations, and best practices that keep the system robust as surveys evolve. The second half demonstrates how thoughtful interactive design makes it easy to explore trends across time or questions without overwhelming users. Attendees will leave with concrete patterns and technical strategies for turning static survey outputs into powerful, self-service analytical tools.

This session highlights how the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) is using integrated education and labor market data to support workforce-aligned decision-making across its community colleges and colleges of applied technology.

Presenters will showcase a coordinated suite of system-level tools that link student outcomes, labor market demand, and near–real?time institutional data to inform action at both the system and campus levels. Together, these tools provide a unified approach to understanding workforce outcomes, career pathways, and program alignment.

The session will demonstrate features of Careers Start Here, an interactive platform developed in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development that tracks graduate employment rates, earnings, and industries of employment over the past decade. Participants will also explore a job postings and occupational outlook tool that integrates National Labor Exchange postings data with Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics to assess workforce demand, employment growth, credential requirements, and advertised salary trends across Tennessee and neighboring states. In addition, presenters will discuss the system’s emerging Workforce Student Information System (SIS) initiative, which is creating a centralized, standardized data environment to support operational and strategic dashboards aligned with the TBR Analytics and Reporting Platform (TARP).

This session will emphasize how integrated workforce data can be operationalized to improve career advising, guide program investment and review, strengthen credentials of value alignment, and reduce reporting burden for IR/IE staff. Attendees will leave with practical examples of how workforce data can move beyond reporting to support coordinated, data-informed decision-making within their own institutional contexts.