History of IAIR

IAIR existed as an informal organization from 1971 until 1982. In early 1971, Harold Mohamed introduced the idea for a statewide organization in a letter to key institutional researchers. At the time, Harold Mohamed was serving as an Assistant Vice President at Northeastern Illinois University. His letter specifically addressed the need to "foster inter-institutional cooperation (across all sectors of higher education) through the creation of a state organization of institutional researchers.

The informal state organization took shape at an organizational meeting held during April, 1971 at the national Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Forum in Denver, Colorado. In conjunction with the initial meeting Lyman Glenny, the second Executive Director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, gave a presentation on the potential institutional research had for strengthening higher education. The location of the annual fall meetings from 1971 through 1982 are listed below:

Year	Host Institution(s)
1971	Elmhurst College
1972	Western Illinois University
1973	Northwestern University
1974	Southern Illinois University John A. Logan Community College
1975	YMCA Community College of Chicago Rockford College
1976	Sangamon State University Lincoln Land Community College
1977	Northern Illinois University
1978	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Parkland Community College
1979	Western Illinois University Bradley University
1980	Illinois State University
1981	Eastern Illinois University
1982	Sangamon State University Lincoln Land Community College

In 1982, the Illinois Association for Institutional Research was officially formed when a constitution, by-laws and formal structure were adopted by participants in the informal group.

A list of IAIR officers and meeting locations is also available.

Information on IAIR's early days was compiled by Franklin L. Duff-Emeritus, University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana.