Location: Springfield, MA 

Category: Administrative and Professional 

Posted On: Tue Apr 26 2022 

Job Description:

Reporting to the VP of Academic Affairs, the candidate for this position has an approach to data that focuses on integrated and scalable data systems, automated data creation, and analytical review. The Executive Director should have a technology background, understand how data systems affect stakeholders, and bring perspective on improving data usage. The Executive Director will bring expertise in data management, flexible approaches, and a passion for problem-solving and solution design.

The Director oversees a comprehensive program on institutional research to support college-wide planning, assessment, external reporting, data governance, and accreditation. The office provides information and analyses to support institutional decision-making, responds to data and information requests from internal and external stake-holders, promotes institutional effectiveness and planning through education and collaboration, supports efforts to improve student learning and experience, and works with data to help the College meet its equity goals.

This role is responsible for maximizing the impact of data sets, research, and evaluation on behalf of the college, including, where necessary increasing the data analytics proficiency of college administration, faculty, and staff. The role will require an integrated approach to research that combines design research with data modeling to uncover labor market skills gaps and make programmatic recommendations. As a key leader in the research and development functions of the college, the position will work closely and collaboratively with the President and Cabinet.

Institutional Research:

• Lead the data management and reporting efforts of national-level datasets such as IPEDS, National Student Clearinghouse, HEIRS and other IR-led institutional assessment projects.
• Manage the reporting of STCC data to external agencies, organizations, and accrediting bodies.
• Assist Finance leadership in preparing the annual state budget request.
• Manage and maintain the institutional research and institutional effectiveness budget.
• Lead collaborative efforts in institutional effectiveness to support the accreditation process and submit major institutional reports to accrediting agencies.
• Proactively develop new, sophisticated metrics and progress measures that reflect the emerging and dynamic data needs at STCC
• Collaborate with Information Technology leadership and data owners (Registrar's Office, Admissions, Financial Aid, Workforce Development, etc.) to develop policies and procedures to ensure institutional data quality and integrity.
• Data governance is overseen by Information Technology and IR will work closely with IT to ensure data security in its protocols.
• Develop and implement a system of tracking and responding to internal and external data requests
• Advise the President and Cabinet on data needs for institutional planning and assessment purposes
• Conduct special studies as needed for the President and Cabinet

Leadership:

• Build out the capacity of institutional effectiveness; develop operating goals, policies, procedures, and staffing strategy for the office.
• Lead a team of research analysts performing duties such as training and work allocation; provide performance management feedback as appropriate.
• Represent STCC at state-wide conferences or professional organizations. Attend executive-level team meetings to provide information and support decision-making as requested.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Commitment to equity and inclusion in research design.
• Write, present, and simplify complex concepts into a wide variety of audiences.
• Understanding of survey research methods, sampling, and instrumentation.
• Collaborative mindset and the ability to work across a wide variety of team members and stakeholders.
• Data-modeling, database design, or similar experience that demonstrates knowledge of data systems.
• Data warehousing, business intelligence (BI), data governance, data architecture, data integration, data classification, data strategy, data quality management, data security, and privacy, data standards, regulatory compliance and enterprise architecture frameworks.
• Meet the Department of Higher Education Massachusetts Community College requirements and specifications around the collection, maintenance, and usage of data.
• Timely higher education reporting needs and systems, such as MIS, DSPS, IPEDS, National Clearinghouse, etc.
• Lead, manage, and guide office staff.
• Prioritize and structure projects and workstreams effectively and efficiently.
• Demonstrated understanding of, sensitivity to, and respect for the diverse academic, socio-economic, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, disability, and sexual orientation of community college students, staff, and faculty.

Job Requirements:

• Master's degree in a research-related field, such as statistics, social science, or mathematics science, behavioral science, information science, or an equivalent combination of academic degree achievement and professional knowledge with expertise in qualitative and quantitative research
• Minimum five years' experience in higher education data gathering, quantitative analysis, and /or data reporting
• Advanced computer expertise, to include relational databases SPSS, R, and data visualization
• Demonstrated knowledge of current higher education issues, assessment and accreditation
• Commitment to student success, diversity, and inclusion
• Strong oral and written communication skills, as well the ability to communicate analysis and research to broad audiences
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• 3-5 years of progressive experience as a supervisor

Desired Qualifications:

• Familiarity with unstructured data analysis applied to support analysis and modeling within an education and workforce skills context.
• Knowledge of human-centered design framework and methodology within higher education and business settings.
• Experience with data systems design, including work with Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs), such as Salesforce.
• Experience querying and analyzing data sets in relational databases.
• Understanding of data automation strategies, frameworks, and infrastructure.
• Experience or familiarity with predictive analytics, machine learning, and other data approaches.
• Experience working with Enterprise Resource Planning, SIS, and LMS systems.
• Experience building out and leading a team.
• Experience in promoting the use and access of information for decision-making and assessment.
• Experience with Tableau.

Working Conditions/Physical Demands:

Working in an office setting. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet. While performing the duties of this job, some movement is required in the office. The person in this position needs to occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, office machinery etc. Operates a computer and multiple technologies.

Additional Information:

SALARY: $95,000 - $105,000

BENEFITS: Yes-State Funded

POSITION CLASSIFICATION: Non Unit Professional (NUP)

WORK SCHEDULE: 37.5 hrs. per week

GRANT FUNDED: No

CLOSING DATE: Open Until Filled

All candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States. Springfield Technical Community College is not sponsoring H1B Visa.

COVID VACCINATION REQUIREMENT:

Effective January 3, 2022 all Springfield Technical Community College employees will need to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, unless granted an accommodation.

INFORMATION AWARENESS SECURITY TRAINING:

Candidates for employment should be aware that all STCC employees are required to complete Information Awareness Security Training within thirty days of their orientation date and annually thereafter.