Biography of Presenters:

Mary Harrington
Mary Harrington has extensive experience in working with assessment and technology. She currently serves as the Director of Institutional Research and Assessment at the University of Mississippi and was instrumental in the University's selection and implementation of the TracDat® Assessment System. Mary consults with institutions concerning planning and implementation of institutional effectiveness programs. She has reviewed assessment plans and reports for a number of institutions in different accrediting regions. In addition, she has made presentations and conducted workshops at numerous national and regional conferences concerning assessment. Mary received the prestigious Best Visual Award for work presented at the 2006 Annual AIR Conference. She is currently the co-chair of the SACS Reaffirmation Leadership Team at Ole Miss, and has served as both an on-site and off-site SACS evaluator as the Institutional Effectiveness expert. Throughout her career, Mary has assumed leadership positions in a variety of professional organizations, such as AIR, SAIR, MAIR, Regional Networks for Assessment, and the SAP Users Group. Mary currently serves as president of the Mississippi Association for Institutional Research and recently hosted that organization's annual conference at her institution.

Margie Hobbs
Dr. Margie Hobbs brings a wide range of experiences to Institutional Effectiveness. She is employed as Associate Director of Institutional Research and Assessment and Assistant Professor of mathematics at The University of Mississippi where she is primarily responsible for that instruction's assessment/institutional effectiveness program. Margie has consulted with many two- and four-year institutions in a number of accreditation regions assisting institutions and individuals in understanding the assessment process and creating a culture of assessment. She has also made numerous presentations at professional conferences including AIR, SAIR, AAHE Assessment Forum, The International Assessment Conference, and the Annual Assessment Conference at Texas A & M University. Margie is a nationally recognized expert on developmental mathematics and a co-author of several texts for lower division mathematics including the Prentice Hall's Reference to Mathematics – A Guide for Everyday Math. For more than 20 years Margie worked in the two-year college environment as a professor and administrator including service as Dean of Academic Services at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, Tennessee. Margie has held offices in a number of professional organizations and was the recent recipient of the prestigious Jim Nichols Service Award presented by the Mississippi Association for Institutional Research.