The higher education sector today faces an environment unlike any it has seen before. Serving a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders and facing diverse and fast-changing economic, social, and political pressures, universities can benefit from corporate-like approaches such as the use of analytics to inform strategic decision-making and planning. Institutional analytics programs can be a valuable resource in guiding university responses to modern challenges around fiscal responsibility, accountability, competition, and student success. Customizable when it comes to leadership, staffing, and data and technology infrastructure, analytics initiatives can be targeted to meet individual institutional resources, environments, challenges, needs, mission, and values. One such resource available at most institutions is Institutional Research (IR), a field that has undergone regular evolution to meet the changing needs of postsecondary education. The unique combination of technical, analytical, and interpersonal roles and skills needed for the effective use of data and analytics can often be met through the engagement of Institutional Research leaders and staff in these initiatives, and they are frequently key participants in the support and delivery of analytics efforts on campus. With Institutional Research as a resource, and flexibility in creating an analytics program that best meet the needs of individual institutions, analytics can serve as a powerful and effective tool for universities responding to todays' pressures of academic capitalism. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]