This collection contains records of Institutional Effectiveness. Founded in the late 1930s, the main task of this office was to "organize and conduct research studies to provide information and data, serving as a basis for University decision making..." The bulk of the records here serve that purpose, gathering and presenting information about St. Cloud State students, faculty, curriculum, and facilities.

Series 1: Administrative Records

This series contains annual reports, history of Institutional Effectiveness, and faculty rosters.  The faculty rosters are significant as they list biographical information about St. Cloud State faculty, including salary.  There are additional faculty rosters in Series 2 on microfiche.

Series 2: Reports

This series has a wide variety of reports, nearly all related to St. Cloud State.  Many of the reports are related to students, including enrollment, ACT profiles of incoming freshmen, grade distribution, and faculty-student ratios.  Other reports are arranged by topic and are listed individually to facilitate access.

Other significant records include those that give a snapshot of St. Cloud State University. This includes the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), 1966-1980, to the federal government's Department of Education. HEGIS reported on student enrollment, campus facilities devoted to instruction, finances of the university, and degrees awarded. The summary of academic data, dating from 1982 to 2003, compiled information at the department, college and university level about students and student enrollment, including year, gender and major, faculty and staff, credits generated, and class size.

Microfiche is included in this series, likely reports run from the office's database. By academic term, these records report on student enrollment, faculty, instructional load, courses offered and their history, ethnic and racial background of students, students martial status, and transfers to St. Cloud State.

University Archives does have digital records taken from this office's website but are not included in this finding aid.

Contained in two boxes, these records document the Epsilon Theta chapter of the Phi Delta Kappa honorary fraternity. Focusing mainly on the late 1980s and early 1990s, the records contain material related to membership, such as lists as well documentation related to being nominated and initiated in the organization. Other significant materials are the chapter newsletters dating back to 1961.