Clark University

Location: Worcester, MA Category: Staff and Administrators Posted On: Fri Dec 19 2025 Job Description:

The Director of Strategic Analytics, Assessment, and Institutional Research provides leadership in evidence-based decision-making, institutional research, and assessment in support of the University's mission. Reporting to the Provost, the Director serves as a principal analyst and strategic advisor to academic deans and senior leaders, delivering high-quality analyses that inform enrollment management, student success, and institutional effectiveness. The role translates complex data into clear, compelling narratives and ensures accurate, timely institutional reporting and accreditation support.

• Partner with campus leaders to support strategic priorities such as retention, student success, and assessment. Translate institutional questions into actionable research and conduct high-impact quantitative and qualitative analyses. Develop briefs, dashboards, reports, and visualizations tailored to decision-makers. Identify and interpret KPIs, benchmarking data, analytics trends, and rankings methodologies to support institutional planning and improvement. Present to and collaborate with key institutional stakeholders, including the Board of Trustees, senior leadership, faculty, staff, and academic leaders.

• Oversee submission of official University data to federal and state agencies, accreditors, guidebooks, external research institutes, and internal stakeholders. Maintain and steward core institutional datasets, ensuring data quality, consistency, and appropriate use.

• Co-lead data governance practices in collaboration with IT and data-system partners. Provide data management of Clark Analytics platform.

• Support institutional, departmental, and curricular assessment processes by coordinating evidence collection, documentation, and reporting across programs, centers, and co-curricular units within Clark's hub-spoke assessment model. Provide leadership for accreditation efforts (NECHE and others), including self-studies, mid-cycle reviews, data narratives, and alignment of qualitative and quantitative evidence to accreditation standards. Promote best practices in outcomes assessment and continuous improvement by supporting clear learning outcomes, providing evidence to support faculty professional development practices, and the use of assessment findings to strengthen academic quality and student success.

• Provide leadership and direction within the Office of Strategic Analytics, Assessment, and Institutional Research. Supervise professional and student staff or project teams as assigned, manage analytical workflows, prioritize projects, and continuously improve processes, tools and team skill sets.

Job Requirements:

• Master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., higher education, data analytics, social science, statistics, public policy, or a related area)
• 5 to 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in institutional research, strategic analytics, assessment, or related higher-education work
• Demonstrated expertise conducting complex quantitative and qualitative analyses
• Advanced proficiency with statistical analysis tools and languages (e.g., SPSS, R, Python)
• Experience with data visualization and reporting tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI)
• Knowledge of NECHE accreditation standards, higher-education assessment practices, and institutional research principles
• Experience working with KPIs, benchmarking, student outcomes analysis, and rankings methodologies
• Proven ability to translate complex data into clear, compelling narratives for diverse audiences
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across academic and administrative units.

Additional Information:

Expected Hiring Range: $115,100 to $135,000

Pay Transparency Disclosure:
The compensation for this position will be determined based on factors that include available budget, internal equity, and the selected candidate's qualifications, experience, education, and other job-related credentials. This range represents Clark University's good-faith estimate of the expected hiring range at the time of posting consistent with Clark's compensation philosophy and internal alignment.

At Clark University we believe that diversity of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to a more innovative and productive work environment. We welcome and encourage individuals of all backgrounds to join our team and contribute their unique ideas to help us achieve our goals.

Clark University offers a generous benefit package for full and, if applicable, part-time employees that include; paid time off, generous retirement plan, group health and dental insurance, life insurance, and tuition, along with use of many campus amenities. For a complete list of benefits for eligible employees visit here.

To review the Clark University Police Department Annual Security and Fire Safety Report visit here.