Advancing One KU: Integrating AIRE and Establishing the Strategy Office

Colleagues,

As part of our ongoing One KU initiative to strengthen alignment across all campuses, I am sharing important changes that bring together our strategic planning, data management, analytics and effectiveness functions.

Corinne Bannon, Chief Strategy & Data Officer and Vice Chancellor, now leads an integrated One KU Analytics, Institutional Research & Effectiveness (AIRE) office, which combines the strengths of the KU Lawrence AIRE team and the former Enterprise Analytics team at the KU Medical Center. As a One KU office, AIRE will serve all KU campuses as the central data, data governance, analytics and effectiveness office, delivering high quality services with integrity, respect and excellence. 

Positioning AIRE as a One KU office brings together information that has historically resided in separate systems and units across campuses. By intentionally uniting institutional data under a single data strategy, AIRE will enable more consistent, transparent and timely insights that support collaboration, informed decision making and shared accountability across KU and all our campuses. This approach strengthens our ability to align priorities and reduce duplication, and ensures that leaders are working from a common, trusted foundation of data in service to the university’s mission. 

Strategy Office

I am also pleased to share the launch of our new Strategy Office, also under Corinne’s leadership. The Strategy Office will further support our institution-wide strategic alignment and execution. This office will provide guidance, coordination and monitoring of major university priorities, helping us advance key initiatives with clarity and accountability.  

The Strategy Office will additionally facilitate the development of a university wide strategic framework and plan in 2026. This work will align our shared goals, resources and decision making with the long term needs and aspirations of the University of Kansas. There will be multiple opportunities this spring for faculty, staff, and campus partners to provide input as the strategic framework and plan are developed.

Bringing strategy and data together under the Chief Strategy & Data Officer strengthens KU’s ability to align priorities, decisions and outcomes across campuses. This integrated structure ensures that institutional strategy is informed by high quality, shared data, and that progress toward our goals can be monitored with clarity and consistency.

Corinne has played a central role in shaping KU’s data driven decision making practices and the KU Lawrence Jayhawks Rising strategic plan, and she will continue to offer thoughtful leadership as our university advances the One KU initiative. As a member of the University Cabinet, her expanded portfolio reflects the critical importance of coordinated strategy and analytics as we prepare KU to thrive in an evolving higher education landscape.

These changes strengthen our ability to work as one university, aligned behind shared strategies and priorities. They also reflect our ongoing commitment to building a more agile, collaborative and effective administrative model that supports our students, faculty and staff.

Respectfully,

Doug

Douglas A. Girod
Chancellor