About Us

The Office of Institutional Research (IR) partners very closely with the Office of Accreditation, Planning, and Institutional Assessment (APA). The mission of the IR office is to support SCC by promoting, coordinating, and practicing the effective use of valid and reliable data for decision making, planning and communication. The mission of the APA office is to promote use of valid and reliable data in decision making through improved integrated planning, budgeting, program review, assessment, and other institutional processes. The following provides some background about the staff members on both teams.

Robin has been with SCC since July 1984. During that time, she served several roles in Admissions and Registration at the Lincoln Campus and over seven years as Director of Enrollment/Dean of Student Services at the Milford Campus. She moved into her current position, the first IR position at the College, in January 2013. Robin’s primary function will be oversight of the office as well as working specifically with state and federal reporting, including IPEDS and VFA. Robin loves Husker sports and spending time with family.

Sara joined SCC in July 2015 after 14 years working as a Business Analyst with the State of Nebraska’s Child Support software system. She has a B.S. in psychology from Truman State University. Sara’s role at SCC is two-fold. Her primary focus is to serve as the technical resource for the Institutional Research team, including maintaining the college’s data warehouse, submitting required data reports to external entities, providing analysis and feedback on IR work products and promoting data integrity and reliability. Her secondary role is in support of the IT department and involves a number of responsibilities such as report writing, software implementation project management and other needs as they arise. Sara is married to Mike Pegram (who also works at SCC) and they have three kids who keep them on their toes! Sara enjoys spending time with family and friends, indulging in chips and salsa and maintains a close relationship with her morning coffee.

Robyn joined SCC in April 2022 after working for 7 years as a Survey Methodologist and Data Analyst at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Robyn’s primary focus is survey administration as well as data analysis for program development at SCC. She has a passion for collecting the highest quality data and continuing to learn about the College through data. In her free time, she enjoys baking, sewing, hiking, spending time with family, and watching football with her husband.

Shawna is returning to SCC after directing the undergraduate social work program at Union College since 2012. She started at SCC as an intern in 2007 and worked on the Beatrice, Lincoln, and Milford campuses in the TRIO/Student Support Services program for five years. Her professional experience includes institution-wide and program-specific accreditation, program planning, teaching, and student services. With a background in social work (BSW, Union College; MSW, University of Nebraska at Omaha), she is passionate about the alleviation of poverty through access to quality educational opportunities. Shawna loves to watch Packers' games with her husband, Caleb, and enjoys Thai food, traveling, paper crafting, and yin yoga.

Rebecca came to SCC in June 2015 from previous IR and decision-support positions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Vanderbilt University. After several years of having broad responsibilities for establishing data resources and decision-support capabilities in IR, Rebecca is now focused more narrowly on accreditation, planning, and the 2023 HLC Comprehensive Evaluation. Rebecca's area of focus is fairly broad as the team establishes data resources and decision-support capabilities. She is an evangelist for using best practices in data visualization ("save the pies for dessert!"). Rebecca is married to Jeff Korbelik, dining critic for the Lincoln Journal-Star, and is a frequent companion on his dining reviews.

Jill Wightman joined the IR office at SCC in July 2016, after 11 years teaching cultural anthropology, most recently at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. She has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Illinois. Her area of focus is qualitative research. Jill is returning to Nebraska after 20 years of wandering around North and South America, and is happy to be home.