EDC History

Purdue Campus Scenes

Formation

Early in 2022, a multi-departmental working group, led by Molly Amstutz, chief data officer, formed a recommendation for a data governance committee structure. Five data committees were approved by the Executive Data Council (EDC) in March 2022, including:

  • Content Stewards
  • User Experience
  • Data Quality
  • Data Stewards
  • Training and Communications

During the first year, each of the committees worked to define their primarily responsibilities and set one-year goals.

Committee Reorganization

In 2023, the Executive Data Council evaluated one-year goals and approved the following changes:

  1. Merged the Content Stewards, Data Quality, and User Experience Committees into one new entity. The newly formed Quality Data Experience committee allowed for greater efficiency and lower redundancy and duplication of effort. The Training and Communication committee and Data Stewards committee remained intact as separate committees. 
  2. Established an Active Member and Advisory Member status for committee members. It was recommended to revise the roles and responsibilities of committee members to better leverage expertise and maximize output.

EDC Structure Review and New Projects

In 2025, the leadership of the EDC transitioned to a newly appointed Vice Provost. Under this new leadership, the EDC underwent a review of its membership structure, resulting in expanded representation. Membership was restructured with the option to include both an executive and a data lead from each area, as documented in the EDC Charter.

Additionally, the previously ad hoc Data Governance Board was formalized into a standing Data Ethics Committee. The Data Ethics Committee will promote the ethical use of institutional data, review AI tool deployments, advise on policy changes, and safeguard data privacy while acting as a liaison between the university community and AI developers.

During this period, three key projects were initiated to advance the committee’s mission:

  • Data Steward Evaluation
  • Data System Mapping
  • Privacy and Compliance Improvement