Everything’s bigger in Texas and that definitely held true at SAS Global Forum 2015. The conference was bigger and busier than ever, especially for the education industry. There were so many amazing presentations and announcements, that you may have missed a few -- here are the highlights.

We had a several customer presentations on SAS Visual Analytics:

• Western Kentucky University
  • Killing Them with Kindness: Policies Not Based on Data Might Do More Harm Than Good (or watch the recorded session)
• University of Connecticut
  • SAS^® Visual Analytics: Emerging Trend in Institutional Research
• Valencia College
  • Visualizing Student Enrollment Trends Compared across Calendar Periods and Grouped by Categories with SAS^® Visual Analytics
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
  • All In: Integrated Enterprise-Wide Analytics and Reporting with SAS^® Visual Analytics and SAS^® Business intelligence
  • Great Performances: SAS^® Visual Analytics Performance Monitoring and Enhancement

At the SAS Global Forum Academic Summit, we honored several Education awards winners and a record number of SAS Student Ambassadors.

The SAS Distinguished Professor Award – Alan Olinsky, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Information Systems at Bryant University. Olinsky worked with SAS to create joint certificates in applied analytics, data mining and business analytics. The university also introduced one of the country’s first undergraduate applied analytics programs. Olinsky co-founded Bryant’s Advanced Applied Analytics Center.

SAS Excellence in Education Award – Sinclair Community College. Sinclair has used SAS Analytics for years to boost student enrollment efforts, reduce dropouts, manage course accreditation and balance faculty and course resources.

The SAS Student Ambassador Program recognizes and supports students using SAS in innovative ways that benefit their respective fields of study.

We had two press releases on SAS Analytics U. One on how SAS® Analytics U spurs record software use, certifications, and university partnerships. The other on how SAS® University Edition is now available in AWS Marketplace.

With so many BIG things happening at this year’s SAS Global Forum, I wonder what’s in store for next year’s conference in Las Vegas. We hope to see you there!