The Group's principal, Dr. Richard A. (Rick) Voorhees, draws on a wide career including academic, student services, and research and policy capacities at tribal colleges, suburban community colleges, inner-city colleges, rural comprehensive universities, major research universities, governing boards, and at the national policy level. This background combines with expertise in organizational change, resource development, and harvesting information for meaningful decisions. Recognized as a resource for organizations facing challenges in the areas of student outcomes, student retention programming, distance education evaluation, and assessment of learning, he is in frequent demand as a consultant and speaker.

His research linking financial aid and first year student persistence entitled, "Financial Aid and New Freshman Persistence: An Exploratory Model," was recognized as the best paper presented at the annual Forum for the Association for Institutional Research in 1985. Similarly, "Toward Building Models of Community College Persistence: A Logit Analysis" is one of the touchstones in the literature of student retention. In 1998 he was awarded the Practitioner Award by the National Council on Research and Planning. He is a past president of the Association for Institutional Research, a 3,000 member international professional association whose goal is to promote better use of information for policy development and management in higher education.

Dr. Voorhees is the editor of the sourcebook "Measuring What Matters: Competency-Based Learning Models in Higher Education. Meant to respond to the learning revolution brought on by increased competition in the educational marketspace and by expanded access to technology, this book intends to serve as a toolkit for faculty and administrators interested in positioning their work and institutions to respond to new learning paradigms.

Dr. Voorhees has been invited to work in various capacities with the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Educational Statistics, Educational Testing Service, the American Association of Community Colleges, the Australian University Quality Agency, the Association of Community College Trustees, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, the American Indian College Fund, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, National Governors Association, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the State Higher Education Executive Officers, and the American Council on Education.

Voorhees Group LLC also draws upon other experts in higher education as situations warrant, each of whom share a commitment to provide ethical services and products. Click here for a description of other Group members.