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Karen Webber

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Professor Emerita of Higher Education

Karen Webber is a professor emerita in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. She holds her Ph.D. from The University of Maryland College Park. Prior to joining the IHE faculty on a full-time basis, she served as director of institutional research and interim associate provost for institutional effectiveness at the University of Georgia. Webber came to UGA in 2003, following a 15-year tenure in the Office of Institutional Research & Planning at the University of Delaware.

She has published research on a number of issues related to institutional effectiveness in higher education including faculty roles and work productivity, graduate education, gender equity in higher education, undergraduate research, and capacity building in institutional research. Her primary research interests remain centered on the assessment of academic, cognitive, and psychosocial growth of college students, with additional interests in gender studies, and higher education data management.

Webber is the recipient of the 2018 Sidney Suslow Scholar award, which is the highest honor the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) bestows on an individual. AIR recognizes a member who has made extraordinary contributions through scholarly work to the field of institutional research and advanced understanding of the profession in a meaningful way. Webber was nominated and selected for this honor by her AIR peers.

Webber is currently president of AIR (2022-2023). She remains active in other national and regional professional organizations including ASHE and SCUP.  Webber was president of the North East Association for Institutional Research (1998-99) and received the NEAIR Distinguished Service Award in November 2004. Through 2009, she served as chair of AIR’s Professional Development Services Committee, has previously served on the Membership and Nomination Committees, and is a faculty member in the annual AIR Foundations Institute. In 2016 Webber received the Distinguished Service Award from SCUP.

She collaborates with colleagues around the world on IR, decision support, and academic planning in higher education. Webber travels to other countries to assist with improvements in higher education, with recent stops in Croatia, South Africa, and the UK.

Projects

Students’ access to work-related experiential activities (WREAs) (funded by NSF)
Faculty Satisfaction in Today’s Colleges and Universities (partially funded via TIAA Research Institute)
Graduate Student Debt (partially funded by AccessLex/AIR grant)
Measuring Business Engagement in STEM activities (funded by UGA Interdisciplinary Seed Grant)
Building Capacity in Institutional Research and Decision Support
The Uses and Misuses of Data
The Role of Institutional Research in a High Profile Study of Undergraduate Research
Measuring Faculty Productivity
Research Productivity of Foreign- and US-born Faculty: Differences by Time on Task
The Use of Learner-Centered Assessment in US Colleges and Universities
Curriculum Vitae:
Email:
kwebber@uga.edu
Education:
  • Ph.D., Counseling & Personnel Services, The University of Maryland, College Park  
  • M.A., Clinical & Community Psychology, The University of Maryland Baltimore County
  • B.S., Psychology, East Tennessee State University, summa cum laude
Research Interests:

Dr. Webber has published research on a number of issues related to institutional effectiveness in higher education including faculty roles and work productivity, graduate education, gender equity in higher education, undergraduate research, and capacity building in institutional research. Her primary research interests remain centered on the assessment of academic, cognitive, and psychosocial growth of college students, with additional interests in gender studies, and higher education data management.

Grants:

Work-related experiential activities that contribute to successful employment acquisition. National Science Foundation, $630,027.

Mote, T., PI, Barbour, S., Hornak, L., Webber, K., Crain, A. co-PIs (2019, proposal submitted). Student success through the STEM accelerated career track (STEM-ACT). Research proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation, March, $998,000.



Tanner, D., Webber, K., & Burg, T. (2017). How business engagement in high schools and college impacts student persistence in STEM education and STEM careers. President’s Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program, UGA, $104,000. 

Webber, K.L. (2016). The rising tide of graduate student debt: examining change from 2008 to 2012. Access/AIR Grants Program, $49,508.

Webber, K.L. (2016). Faculty member satisfaction: Are there differences by Institutional level? TIAA Research Grants program, $33,500. 

Webber, K.L. & González Canché. (2015). A multistate analysis of the career path of STEM faculty members. AIR/NCES/NSF Research Grants Program, $39,925. 



Webber, K. (2012). Doctorate degree completion: Equal benefits for all? AIR/NCES/NSF Research Grants Program, $39,624. 



Simpson, E.G., PI, with Bauer, K. (2005). Croatian partnership for higher education reform. Georgia Congressional Funds, $74,400. 

Pagano, N., PI, with Bauer, K., Buckley, L., Lindsey, C., Nunmedal, C., Porter, D., & Suskie, L. (2002). Communities of practice: An Inter-institutional general education assessment project. Multi-institution grant from FIPSE, $171,000. 

Bennett, J.B. & Bauer, K.W., co-PIs. (1999). Outcomes assessment of undergraduate curricular innovations: Developing a model of evaluation. National Science Foundation, $219,000. 

Cavanaugh, J.C., PI, with Duch, B., & Bauer, K.W. (1998). Problem-based learning. The Pew Charitable Trusts, $219,000. 

Roselle, D.P., Bennett, J., co-PIs, with Bauer, K.W. (1997). Recognition award for the integration of research & education. The National Science Foundation, $500,000. 

Watson, G., Shipman, H., Duch, B. Allen, D., White, H., Groh, S., co-PIs, with Bauer, K., Scott, T., & Ketcham, R. (1997). Catalysts for change: Model courses for lifelong learning. The National Science Foundation, $200,000. 

Kitto, S., Griffiths, L., co-PIs, with Pesek, J., Mackenzie, E., Bauer, K., & Eiker, E. (1996). Biotechnology in agriculture: A multimedia approach to PBL and distance learning. US Dept of Agriculture, $80,000.

Webber, K.L., & Zheng, H.Y. (2020, in press). Analytics and the imperatives for data-informed decision making in higher education. In K.L Webber & H.Y. Zheng (Eds.) Data analytics in higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.(author's manuscript version)

Webber, K.L. & Morn, J. (2020, in press). Limitations in data analytics: considerations related to ethics, security, and possible misrepresentation in data reports and visualizations. In K.L Webber & H.Y. Zheng (Eds.) Data analytics in higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (author's manuscript version)

Webber, K.L. (2019, accepted). Can you trust your eyes?: Learn how to minimize misinterpretation of data reports and visualizations. Planning for Higher Education.

Burns, R. & Webber, K. (2019). Achieving the promise of educational opportunity: graduate student debt for STEM vs. Non-STEM students, 2012, Journal of Student Financial Aid, 48(3), 1-29. Retrieved from: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/vol48/iss3/5/

Webber, K.L. (2018). The use and potential misuse of data in higher education: a compilation of examples. (author's manuscript version)

Webber, K.L. (2018). Does the environment matter? Faculty satisfaction at 4-year colleges and universities in the USA. Higher EducationOnlineFirst. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0345-z

Webber, K.L. (Ed.) (2018). Building capacity in institutional research and decision support in higher education. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Press.

Webber, K.L. (2018, March). Help them pay: graduate student debtNACUBO Business Officer, 18-24. (posted with approval of NACUBO)

Webber, K.L., & Rogers, S.M  (2018). Gender differences in faculty member job satisfaction: equity forestalled? Research in Higher Education59(8), 1105-1132.

Webber, K.L. & González Canché, M. (2016). Is there a gendered path to academic tenure?: a multistate analysis of the academic trajectory of US doctoral recipients. Research in Higher Education.

Xu, Y., & Webber, K. (2016). College student retention on a racially diverse campus: a theoretically guided reality check. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice. 20(1), 2-28.

Webber, K.L. & Yang, L. (2015). The career path of the postdoctoral researcher. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 47(6), 53-58.

Yang, L. & Webber, K.L. (2015). A decade beyond the doctorate: the influence of a U.S. postdoctoral appointment on faculty career, productivity, and salary.  Higher Education, 70(4), 667-687.

Courses Regularly Taught:
News Featuring Karen Webber

In February, the Louise McBee Institute hosted nine current students, alumni, and faculty members of the Master’s in Research and Innovation in Higher Education (MARIHE), a collaborative Erasmus Mundus program led by Professor and Department Head Attila Pausits…

by Jewel Caruso

Karen Webber, McBee professor emeritus and past president of Association for Institutional Research, served as special guest editor for The AIR: Professional File Fall 2023 volume along with Henry Zheng. 

AIR Forum, May 29-June 2, 2023

View conference program

Several current students and graduates joined Professor Karen Webber, AIR President, at the recent AIR Forum in…

by Jewel Caruso

Karen Webber, professor emeritus, and Henry Zheng, vice provost of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning at Carnegie Mellon University, published an article on AIR called, "AI in Higher Education: Implications for Institutional…

by Jewel Caruso

This winter, professor emerita Karen Webber is again co-leading two instructional modules with Dr. Charles Mathies (PhD, 2007) as part of the Master of Research and Innovation in Higher Education program.

by Jewel Caruso

Karen Webber, professor emerita and president of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), was a keynote speaker at the Tennessee Association for Institutional Research (TENNAIR). 

The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Forum returned as an in-person gathering on June 6-9, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona.

As enrollment in graduate programs is increasing, so is educational debt. Many students wonder if they can afford to stay in school and how they can reduce the debt burden of attending college.

Dr. Webber will participate in a book launch of Utilization of South African Research on Higher Education with South African colleagues on November 3.

Join the event here: https://bit.ly…

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