Our Staff
Michelle Smith
Executive Director of Institutional Research
Michelle Eleazer Smith joined the Office of Institutional Research in January 1994 as a Statistician. She is now the Executive Director of Institutional Research. She has established extensive OIR data marts needed for decision support and for official unit-record reporting to the S.C. Commission on Higher Education. Michelle produces financial and enrollment projection models, and serves as a campus resource for data integrity, data standards and reporting solutions. She is a SAS programming expert and experienced Tableau dashboard developer.
Michelle is a College of Charleston alumnus, receiving her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Mathematics in 1991 and 1992, respectively, with emphases in computer programming, accounting, and statistics. Her first position at the College after graduating was the Budget Analyst for the Dean of the School of Sciences and Mathematics, which she held until hired in OIR in 1994. Michelle received the ExCEL President Alex Sanders Outstanding Public Service Award in 2013.
Contact Information
E-mail: smithm@cofc.edu
Office Location: Randolph Hall, Room 106E
VACANT - We're hiring! Click here to apply by April 19th.
Institutional Research Data Architect
Office Location: Randolph Hall, Room 106F
Susanne Nelson
Data and Reporting Analyst
Susanne has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. She has been working in higher education since 1997. During that time, she has worked at the University of South Carolina, Piedmont Technical College and Newberry College. She has experience with working in Financial Aid, Human Resources, and the Business/Finance office but has spent over the last 13 years in Institutional Research and Effectiveness.
Susanne has extensive experience in data research, data mining, and data analysis. She has worked with IPEDS reporting, South Carolina Commission on Higher Education-CHEMIS reporting, the National Post-Secondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), and Anthology (formerly Campus Labs). She has worked with multiple external survey reports, such as US News and World Report. In the last few years, she worked at Newberry, she researched and analyzed the methodology each year for US News Best Colleges and helped them stay at #10 for Best College-Regional South.
Contact Information
Email: nelsons3@cofc.edu
Office Location: Randolph Hall, Room 106A