Survey invitations were sent to 40,317 IT professionals in the EDUCAUSE database. A total of 1,592 respondents provided data that could be used for analysis, resulting in a response rate of 4%. Respondents were from all 50 US states (plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam) and from 35 countries outside the United States; 815 institutions of higher education were represented. Non-US respondents made up 10% of the sample. Data collection took place in April and May of 2018.

A project that produces a report of this magnitude, complexity, and importance requires a team effort. In addition to the authors of this report, the core EDUCAUSE research team comprises Ben Shulman, our talented Statistician, whose attention to detail from the launch of the project through its completion means that this report is accurate and precise, and Kate Roesch, our Data Visualization Specialist, whose creative talents render our findings into compelling, accessible, and beautiful figures that support our research. Expanding the circle somewhat, we want to acknowledge and thank our colleagues on the analytics side of the Analytics and Research Team—Leah Lang, Director of Analytics Services; Leslie Pearlman, Senior Psychometrician and Researcher; Bradley Beth, Data Analytics Developer; and Thomas Rosa, Assistant Statistician—for contributing survey topics, editing survey items, and testing the survey before we launched it. Finally, we would be remiss not to acknowledge the host of contributions that Jamie Reeves, Portfolio Manager, made to shepherd this project from inception to publication.

We are also indebted to several current and former colleagues throughout EDUCAUSE whose subject-area expertise consultations helped us to identify new topics for research, such as mentoring and DEI, as well as to operationalize research questions and to craft items to gather the data used in this report. Alphabetically, these individuals are Anna Borray, Eden Dahlstrom, Joanne Dehoney, Meaghan Duff, John O'Brien, Betsy Reinitz, Sondra Smith, and Karen Wetzel. Additionally, we want to thank Gregory Dobbin, Senior Editor, for again lending his superb editing skills to polish our prose and make our manuscript considerably more readable. Thanks also go to Lisa Gesner, Content Manager, for helping to connect the workforce "dots" in this report with other workforce-related content across the EDUCAUSE portfolio.

Our external reviewers and subject-matter experts improved this report immensely with their feedback, comments, and suggestions. For the 2018–19 workforce project, they were Mark Askren, University of Nebraska; Allan Chen, Muhlenberg College; Raechelle Clemmons, Texas Woman's University; and Melissa Woo, Stony Brook University at SUNY. Many thanks go to Mark McCormack, Senior Director of Analytics and Research, for his constructive feedback and for contributing the foreword to this report. We also want to thank Susan Grajek, Vice President for Communities and Research, for her leadership, vision, and thoughtful comments on earlier drafts.