Director - Institutional Research And Analytics

The Director, Research and Analytics drives the overall vision of the Office of Institutional Research by implementing effective strategies for data management, data science, and data analytics to support the centralized collection, management, governance, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of data information and evidence for making data-informed decisions. Provides counsel to institutional leadership and faculty on data requirements and institutional research initiatives that support continuous improvement from institutional effectiveness to student learning.

Employs innovative strategies that respond to and capitalize on changing technologies (e.g., Artificial Intelligence) to increase efficiencies. As a champion for data-informed decision making, facilitates the use of data in planning and assessment and to ensure compliance with state and federal reporting obligations and accreditation requirements. Builds and implements critical aspects of operations for data governance policies and vision. The ability to engage the College in the pursuit of continuous program improvement and present information in a meaningful modality to the user is critical.

Provides leadership and oversight for the College's analytics and institutional research initiatives.

Serves as College advocate for the appropriate use of data and exercises good judgment and diplomacy in terms of counseling faculty and staff on the appropriate use of data in decision making.

Collaborates with Information Technology to develop, implement, and maintain a data strategy as well as develop data standards including an institutional data dictionary, collection timelines, storage standards and standardized reporting, and user focused delivery systems.

Demonstrates knowledge of the data ecosystem - from data entry points to data warehouses, to queries and reports, to dashboards, including query and report validation to create actionable information for end users.

In collaboration with IT, leads the design, implementation, and maintenance of data governance frameworks and policies that align with the college's data strategy and objectives; enforces data governance policies, procedures, and standards ensuring consistent data management practices across the college; and provides guidance and support on data governance best practices, data management processes, and data quality improvement to other teams.

Maintains procedures and documentation that ensures data integrity for internal and external reporting and institutional performance measures.

Directs and supports the development, implementation, and maintenance of modeling that employs the use of predictive analytics as well as dashboard type, user friendly delivery systems to the end user.

Develops and implements communication plan for key institutional data and provides information sessions (and other communication vehicles) on major research projects to share results and their impact on future college work.

Supervises the development of data dashboards to ensure data is available on demand at the point of service.

Supports business analytics, institutional research, mandatory reporting at the state and federal levels, strategic planning, and other data-focused decision-support activities.

Applies appropriate research methodology and statistical analysis to uncover insights to support College planning and decision making.

Collaborates with the Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Outcomes Assessment in establishing, evaluating, and tracking of institutional effectiveness, strategic planning initiatives, and maintaining and updating the College's Institutional Effectiveness Measures.

Provides data and reports research findings required for the College's Strategic Plan, Operational Plan, Accountability Report, Environmental Scan, Fact Book and other major College initiatives in coordination with the responsible parties.

Ensures timely reporting of institutional data, benchmarks, and other performance indicators necessary to meet reporting requirements by external and internal stakeholders.

Coordinates three major pieces of institutional research on a rotating basis currently, PACE (employee climate survey), Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), the Community Survey.

Oversees the Records Retention process for the College in compliance with state of Illinois regulations for disposal of records.

Administers the Office of Institutional Research operations, including:

• Provides administrative leadership, supervision, and direction for the office and staff.

• Develops and maintains the office's annual budget.

• Approves, prioritizes, assigns, and monitors all Office of Institutional Research projects.

• Represents the College at external meetings and functions including presenting at state and national conferences.

• Retrieves and analyzes data from the College database using specialized IMPROMPTU, COGNOS, and SPSS/SAS software. Banner experience a plus.

• Oversee utilization of the project tracking system and collaborates with Institutional Research Manager in maintaining projects related to compliance.

• Ensures data quality and management in data repository/warehouse.

Represents the Office of Institutional Research on institutional committees and task forces as directed by the Vice President, Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness.

Chairs the college's Institutional Review Board which approves/rejects requests to conduct research at the college to insure protection of student rights and privacy in research plans.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Equipment/Tools Used:

Utilizes computers to perform the duties of the job, including statistical software (SPSS and SAS, IMPROMPTU and COGNOS), and Microsoft Office products (Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Access) and Data Warehouse.

Supervision:

Receives verbal and written instructions from the Vice President of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness.

Minimum Acceptable Qualifications:

Education: Master's Degree required in Social Science, Educational Psychology, Statistics, Educational Research, or related field. Ph.D. or Ed.D. preferred.

Experience: Five years progressive leadership experience working in complex research environments handing large quantities of data, diverse research needs, and quality control systems.

Demonstrated experience with communication strategies that share data in ways they can be understood and utilized. Excellent knowledge in data management, data science, and data analytics. Prior experience with national movements in community college industry to lead data-informed decision-making efforts to improve student success preferred i.e.

Achieving the Dream. Experience in using statistical software (e.g., SPSS/SAS), COGNOS, business intelligence tools (e.g., PowerBi, Tableau, Microsoft SQL) Microsoft Office products (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint, and Word). Banner experience a plus. Data Warehouse implementation and maintenance experience preferred.