Katherin Platt will be giving Trent a better sense of itself and how well it's meeting its goals in her new job as Trent's first full-time institutional analyst.

        She begins this week. Her task will be to produce and analyze a disparate collection of enrolment statistics, financial reports and other pertinent data about this university. Reporting to the vice-president administration, she will produce information helpful for managers and planners, respond to requests from Maclean's, for instance, for information, prepare government reports and monitor how well Trent performs as an institution. She carries on the work political studies professor Torben Drewes started two years ago as part-time institutional analyst. (He is on leave.)

        Platt has been doing this kind of work as a policy analyst for the provincial government since 1992, when she graduated from the University of Waterloo with an honors BA in political science. Her ministry career has included positions as senior policy analyst in the postsecondary education division at the Ministry of Education and Training, policy analyst for the budget and taxation office of the Ontario Ministry of Finance and policy adviser in the international division of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.

        She is completing a certificate of human resources management from the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario.

        Platt applied for the job after she saw it posted on the Internet site of the Association for Institutional Research. She thinks Trent "is a wonderful university," an opinion derived from her husband of four months, Trent chemistry graduate Michael Dawson.

        She can be reached by calling 748-1028.