Lydia Snover’s 51-year career at MIT includes 15 years in academic and research administration. She has worked in institutional space planning and is the founding director of MIT’s Institutional Research Group. Lydia has represented MIT with numerous organizations including the Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE) and the Consortium on the Financing of Higher Education (COFHE) Institutional Research Group. In addition to serving on several external advisory and review committees, Lydia was heavily involved in the methodology discussions of the 2010 NRC rankings of Research Doctoral Programs.
Lydia has made numerous presentations on institutional research at regional, national and international conferences. She is co-author With Dr. Marcel Herbst of “MIT and ETH Zürich: Structures and Cultures Juxtaposed”, published by the Center for Science and Technology Studies in October 2002. She is also the co-author with Julie Hubin-Carpenter of the chapter “Key Leadership Positions and Performance Expectations in Powers, KP & Schloss, PJ, (editors), 2013, Organization and Administration of Higher Education (3rd edition), New York, NY, Routledge.
Lydia has received numerous awards including the John Stecklein Distinguished Member award from the Association of Institutional Research in 2019, The Joseph Petit Award from COFHE in 2011, and Distinguished Service award from the AAU Data Exchange in 2006. In 2023, Lydia was made an Honorary Member of the MIT Alumni Association, an honor bestowed on fewer than 200 people since it was established in 1897.
Lydia is currently the Data Projects Coordinator for the Association of American Universities Data Exchange and a member of the QS Advisory Board. She has been involved with Academic Analytics since its inception in various capacities including critic, advisor, and subscriber.
