History

NJAIR began with a breakfast gathering of New Jersey institutional researchers attending the NEAIR conference in Baltimore in 1994. The meeting was called to generate interest in forming an association that would bring together institutional researchers from all sectors of higher education in New Jersey. The group decided that the best way to move forward would be to hold a conference on topics of general interest to which institutional researchers from all the colleges and universities in the state would be invited.

​

Georgian Court College hosted and subsidized the first annual meeting, held in March 1995. The restructuring of higher education in New Jersey, SPRE, and the Student-Right-to-Know Act were the hot topics addressed at the meeting. After lunch, the idea of forming a multi-sector association was presented and approved by the group. The first steering committee was selected from volunteers interested in turning an idea into an organization.

​

By 1996, the time seemed right to begin to formalize NJAIR. A mission statement was written and the steering committee began to be structured. In 1997, NJAIR became an officially recognized affiliate of AIR. In the fall of 1997, the steering committee moved to incorporate as a nonprofit organization and to collect dues in order to upgrade the kind of services the association could offer. Besides the annual meeting, NJAIR now sponsors a listserv and this website.

​

In 2021, NJAIR went on hiatus due to the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the worst of that crisis appears behind us, NJAIR is reviving to continue its work of connecting higher education researchers from across the state to connect, learn from each other, and tackle today’s issues in higher education. NJAIR’s again held a conference in 2022 and is holding a conference in 2024.