Research Team for the Educational Needs Index Project

Project Leadership

Dr. Houston Davis – Project Director and Principal Investigator Davis currently serves as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Prior to his work with OSRHE, Davis worked in system-level academic affairs for the Tennessee Board of Regents, in academic leadership for Austin Peay State University, as a fiscal and academic affairs staff member for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, and as a regional counselor for the University of Memphis. With research interests and career involvement in public policy and higher education, Davis was one of fourteen mid-career professionals selected nationally for the 2004-05 Associates Program by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. In 2005 he took on the role of Project Director and Principal Investigator for the National Educational Needs Index project. With degrees from the University of Memphis (B.A. ’95) and Tennessee State University (M.Ed. ’97), he received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2001.

Dr. Brian Noland – Principal Investigator. Noland currently serves as the Chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. His professional career has been primarily focused in higher education and public policy. He has held several positions at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, most recently as the Associate Executive Director for Policy, Planning, and Research. In addition to these responsibilities, he served as an adjunct faculty member at Vanderbilt University and Tennessee State University. Dr. Noland was also a 2002-03 policy associate for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. His scholarly focus has been in the areas of access, accountability, and governance, with articles published in The Journal of College Orientation and Transition, The Journal of Social Indicators Research, and The Handbook of Political Science Literature on Interest Groups. Dr. Noland received his B.A. and M.A in political science from West Virginia University, and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Mr. Patrick Kelly – Principal Investigator. Kelly is a NCHEMS Senior Associate and serves as the Director of the National Information Center for Higher Education Policymaking and Analysis. Before joining NCHEMS, Kelly served as Senior Associate for Information and Research at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary of Education. Prior to working at the council, Kelly was a Research Associate at the National Center for Family Literacy in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a 2000-01 policy associate for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Mr. Kelly is working on his Ph.D. in Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville where he also earned a Master’s degree in Sociology. His undergraduate studies were completed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His areas of specialization and interest include research and statistical methodology, policy analysis, and program evaluation.

Project Associates

Dr. Janet Holdsworth – Consultant and Research Associate. Dr. Janet M. Holdsworth assists the ENI project as a Research Associate and Senior Consultant. Formerly, Holdsworth served as the Director of Policy Research for the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) and Project Director of MHEC's collaborative, Lumina-funded initiative - The Midwestern Education to Workforce Policy Initiative: Seamless Development of Talent for the 21st Century - with The Council of State Governments - Midwest. She currently serves as a Research Consultant and Lecturer in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. In addition, Holdsworth serves as an affiliate of the University of Minnesota's Postsecondary Education Research Institute.

Ms. Stephanie Evans – Graduate Research Assistant. Ms. Stephanie Evans serves the ENI project as a Graduate Assistant. She is presently a graduate student in Psychology at Austin Peay State University.

Web Site Development Partner

Websults – Web Site Design and Database Programming. Websults focuses on one particular area of business - the Internet medium. Websults recommends strategy and takes responsibility for generating results for an organization. The company has worked with several educational organizations to improve their operations as it relates to the web.