Director of Institutional Research & Assessment in New Haven, Connecticut at Southern Connecticut State University (CT)

This position reports directly to the Provost Vice President and Vice President of Academic Affairs and is responsible for performing and responsible for performing and undertaking institutional research, data collection and analysis and preparation of reports in support of planning and assessment by the University, as well as compliance reporting for federal, state, and accreditation agencies. It provides valuable data informed recommendations to leadership for decision making.
The following examples of duties illustrate the general range of tasks assigned to the position, but are not intended to define the limits of required duties. Other essential duties may be assigned consistent with the general scope of the position.
1. Plans and coordinates the maintenance, analysis, and reporting of all statistical information and data for the University.
2. Assists with the implementation of the institutional effectiveness framework.
3. Prepares written reports and presentations for internal and external constituencies, which include federal, state, accrediting, and external grant and initiative agencies.
4. Ensures all federal, state, and other external reporting requirements are submitted or responded to accurately and in a timely manner.
5. Serves as a liaison from the University to various federal, state, and other external agencies for data reporting, research studies, surveys, etc.
6. Collaborates with and provides data expertise/guidance to administrators, faculty, and staff who need to identify, collect, analyze, or interpret data to address institutional priorities.
7. Analyzes and interprets data to produce appropriate audience reports, executive summaries, fact sheets, graphic presentations, visualizations, dashboards, etc.
8. Co-leads efforts to create a culture of data literacy and assessment on campus.
9. Co-leads Data Governance efforts and activities including initiating and resolving data quality issues to ensure the integrity of the information reported to federal, state, and other external entities.
10. Keeps abreast of current data analysis, data ethics, external reporting, assessment, and other relevant and appropriate best practices, platforms, tools, and software.
11. Maintains archives of assessment data and documentation for quality improvement and reporting.
12. Performs other duties and responsibilities related to those enumerated above which do not alter the basic level of responsibility of the position.
Incumbents must possess proven ability to effectively work with a culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse faculty, staff, and students. They are expected to have excellent oral and written communication skills along with strong Information technology literacy skills such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams etc.). Incumbents are required to have demonstrated advanced knowledge and abilities in the following:
• Master's degree in social sciences, statistics, data science, higher education administration, education policy, or related field.
• Minimum of five years of progressive experience within higher education in institutional research and assessment.
• Knowledge and proficiency in data analysis, research methodologies, and survey design, with the ability to apply techniques using SPSS, and Excel.
• Experience in creating and visualizing reports using intelligence software (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) and extracting data from student information systems, preferably utilizing SQL.
• Excellent people leader, communication, project management, organizational, problem-solving, and time-management skills.
• Ability to successfully collaborate with multiple stakeholders, implementing new methods or processes, improving systems integration, and leading organizational change efforts.
• Ability to translate complex data into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders.
• Familiarity with higher education accreditation.