The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment assists:

  1. The cabinet for their data-informed decision-making
  2. Administrative departments for their operations
  3. Academic units for their learning outcomes assessment
  4. External constituents for accountability data requests

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

NSSE collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about first-year and senior students’ participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development.

Institutional Research and Assessment Staff

Nathaniel Leclaire

Nathaniel LaClaire
Assessment Associate
(207) 621-3050
nathaniel.laclaire@maine.edu
Nate supports UMA’s institutional research and assessment needs by creating and maintaining computer programs that fetch and prepare data as well as assisting with the analysis, reporting, and visualization of such data. He also maintains UMA’s online course evaluation system. Additionally, he manages the University's makerspace - the UMA Collaboratory - engaging students to be … Read More
Leslie McCormick

Leslie W. McCormick
Senior Research Analyst
(207) 621-3189
lesliem@maine.edu
Leslie specializes in data organization, coordination, collection, validation and analysis in support of IR, enrollment management, outcomes assessment and accreditation.  For the past 30 years, Leslie has held positions at UMA spanning College Offices, Student Services, the President’s Office, Student Accounts, Financial Aid and Institutional Research and Assessment.  Leslie holds a bachelor’s degree from UMA … Read More
Stephen Hodson

Stephen Hodson
Institutional Research Analyst & Programmer
207.621.3224
stephen.hodson@maine.edu
Stephen works to meet the needs of UMA’s varying institutional research and assessment related initiatives and projects. He is committed to building a strong and successful UMA campus community through the use of statistics, data analysis and reporting to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing the university. He earned his Master of Public Affairs … Read More
David Prestby

David Prestby

Director of Institutional Research and Assessment

Dr. Prestby earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and School Health
Education (K-12) from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He holds a Master of
Science degree in Community Human Services-Counseling/Administration from the
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Dr. Prestby received his Doctor of Education
degree from GTF, South Bend, Indiana, with a specialization in educational research. He
also holds an E.M.T. degree and has attended a summer semester at the University of
Innsbruck, Austria.


Dr. Prestby worked at the College of Menominee Nation (WI Tribal College) as the
Director of Institutional Research and at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay as
Interim Director of Assessment Services. His prior work experiences include working as
a data analysis and research consultant, and he was a data analysis faculty member for the
U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Prestby was also a professor for both undergraduate and
graduate-level courses. Graduate Courses Taught: Educators as Data and Research
Managers (ED589), Advocacy in Education (ED631), and Program Assessment (ED690).
Undergraduate Courses Taught: Educational Psychology (ED120), Pre-student Teaching
Practicum and Seminar (ED249 and ED250) from St. Norbert College. Dr. Prestby was
also an instructor at Waldorf University (Forest City, Iowa), teaching the Humanities 110
First Year Seminar course (Fall 2020), Critical Thinking (HUM1020-Online, Spring
2021), and Concepts of Wellness (WEL101 (Residential)-Spring 2021 & Fall 2021).

Dr. Prestby has a passion for numbers and loves to extrapolate and analyze any form of data.
He especially enjoys producing charts, graphs, and surveys. Dr. Prestby enjoys traveling,
reading (hardcopies), playing guitar, biking, hiking, camping, boating (sunning & floating), and
yes, especially going to data workshops, webinars, and conferences-FUN!!!

david.prestby@maine.edu