Southern to Host ‘HBCU Big Data’ Conference

Southern University at Baton Rouge will hold a conference on data integration in executive and enrollment management at historically black colleges and universities on June 27.

Officials say the conference will be among the nation’s first to bridge historically black college missions and outcomes with current trends in predictive analytics for student performance, finance and operational data monitoring, and outcomes in job placement and student debt.

“As the nation’s only historically black system of higher education, we have a responsibility to evince best practices,” said Southern University System Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs M. Christopher Brown II. “The recent and planned growth in enrollment requires all administrators, campus professionals and faculty to employ new strategies and approaches to guarantee timely matriculation, degree completion and career success.”

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently made headlines for its work with Johnson C. Smith University and Delaware State University in the use of analytics to help increase student retention.