Agency history, 1987-

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Subject

  • Doering, Zahava D
  • Neves, Carole M. P. 1945-
  • Watriss, Whitney
  • Smithsonian Institution Institutional Studies Office
  • Smithsonian Institution Office of Policy and Analysis

Category

Agency History

Notes

  • This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
  • Smithsonian Organization and Audience Research website, https://soar.si.edu/, accessed June 6, 2022
  • Smithsonian Year, 1987-1988, 2000
  • Smithsonian Newsdesk, "Carole Neves, Director, Office of Policy and Analysis", April 27, 2010, https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/photos/carole-neves-director-office-policy-and-analysis, accessed June 6, 2022
  • SI Email Announcement, "Message from the Under Secretary for Administration: SOAR Director will retire in January", December 16, 2021, https://sinet.sharepoint.com/sites/PRISM/Lists/SIWideAnnc/DispForm.aspx?ID=8590, accessed June 6, 2022
  • The Smithsonian Organization and Audience Research (SOAR) is the central planning, research, and evaluation office of the Smithsonian Institution. Its work focuses on helping the Smithsonian and its units operate more effectively and provide its audiences with the best possible experiences. SOAR uses cutting-edge research techniques, data-driven approaches, and strategic thinking to help Smithsonian units achieve their goals. Their work includes organizational assessments; strategic and other planning; large system change; design and evaluation of audience programs; design and facilitation of group activities; and policy formulation and analysis.
  • SOAR has its beginning in 1987 when Zahava D. Doering was appointed the Special Assistant to the Secretary for Survey Research. In 1988 the Institutional Studies Office was created. The office changed its name to the Office of Policy and Analysis in 2000 and then to the Smithsonian Organization and Audience Research in 2018.
  • Zahava D. Doering, Director, 1988-2000; Carole M. P. Neves, Director, 2000-2012; and Whitney Watriss, Director, 2013-2022.
  • For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of" above.

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Date

  • 1987
  • 1987-

Topic

  • Organizational effectiveness
  • Public relations
  • Organizational change
  • Strategic planning
  • Museums
  • Management
  • Museums--Management
  • Museum visitors
  • Research
  • Organizational effectiveness--Evaluation
  • Museums--Public relations

Form/Genre

  • Mixed archival materials
  • Surveys

Local number

SIA AH00446

Full Record

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