In 1998, a collaborative effort in the Dean's office of the College of Arts and Letters at 51情报站 formed the initial structure of the Social Science Research Center after much deliberation and careful study of existent research centers around the nation. Their goal was to create a center devoted to acquiring, analyzing, and reporting information on behavior, attitudes, and social trends.
The current director, Dr. Tancy Vandecar-Burdin has been with the Center since its inception in 1998. She started as the associate director until taking over as director in 2019. Dr. Vandecar-Burdin has over 20 years of experience with various forms of research methods and data collection including mail surveys and web-based survey, telephone surveys, household interviews, and focus groups. Dr. Vandecar-Burdin enjoys working with faculty, area businesses, and health and human service providers to determine their research and data collection needs, developing survey instruments, and developing evaluations of programs. Her research interests include issues related to the elderly and nursing home quality, changes in research methods, and issues surrounding the criminal justice system. Dr. Vandecar-Burdin earned her Master of Arts in Applied Sociology with a certificate in Criminal Justice from 51情报站 as well as a PhD in Public Administration and Urban Policy. She also currently serves as the 51情报站 Institutional Review Board (IRB) chair.
Ms. Wendi Wilson-John is the senior project coordinator and has been with the Center since 2001. Ms. Wilson-John provides project coordination for the various local, state and federal projects managed by the SSRC. Responsibilities include a variety of research and analysis tasks, developing scannable survey forms using Teleform software, scanning completed surveys as well as the development and programing of web surveys for various research partners, moderating focus groups, analyzing and reporting, data, and providing transcription services for focus groups and in-depth interviews. Ms. Wilson-John received a Master of Arts (MA) in Experimental Psychology from Towson University.