Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning & Research

The Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Research at Southern Illinois University Carbondale provides strategic leadership and vision to a team of professionals responsible for developing, enhancing, and maintaining information and data resources of all types critical to planning and achieving the university's short-and long-term goals. Reporting to the Chancellor and a member of the campus's Leadership Council, this position serves as the primary contact for information and data analysis for the University and ensures the campus makes data-informed decisions. The office supports strategic planning initiatives, in-depth analysis and interpretation, and various reporting requirements of the university.

The Director will lead a team that helps campus leaders chart the institution's course by:
  • proactively designing and conducting routine reports and customized studies and surveys for campus administrators, state and federal agencies, and associations or organizations related to the University's core business of teaching, research and service;
  • developing and maintaining information on University facts and statistics that are made publicly available on the University website;
  • creating and delivering oral and written presentations and reports;
  • ensuring timely and accurate information and data analysis is provided to campus administrators to allow for the best possible information for strategic decision making;
  • conducting surveys, preparing department profiles and workload analyses for academic program review, audits, and University cost and productivity data
  • supporting campus-wide assessment and accreditation efforts; assisting campus constituents in using and interpreting institutional data; and convening task forces as needed.

Job Responsibilities:
  • Assist campus leaders and committees with research, planning, and analysis of institutional and/or comparative data used to support and enhance evidence-based decision making and policy formation in areas such as strategic planning, resource allocation, enrollment management, fiscal management, institutional effectiveness, student success, outcomes assessment, accreditation and program review.
  • Help create, implement and evaluate data-driven benchmarks for institution-wide effectiveness and efficiencies;
  • Oversee and assure the design, development, and maintenance of a system of longitudinal databases to assist in planning.
  • Collaboratively work with the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Deans, Information Technology, Enrollment Management, and other units.
  • Maintain knowledge of local, state and national higher education, political and economic trends that affect the University and review institutional data as compared to such information;
  • Ensure the timely and accurate reporting of institutional data required by the U.S. Department of Education, the State of Illinois, accrediting agencies or data requested by national, state, local agencies, private sector firms, other educational institutions, and/or other external collectors of University data;
  • Assure reports meet stated requirements and are consistent with current best practices.
  • Design, develop and maintain a Website to publish institutional data for the general public and for internal campus communities, including but not limited to, the University Interactive Fact Book.
  • Oversee daily operations of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Research, including supervision of support staff and budgeting;
  • Draft and/or completes correspondence, presentations, reports, position papers, and action plans;
  • Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:
  • Master's degree required
  • At least 10 years of experience of increasing complexity in higher education, institutional research, program evaluation, and campus planning, or 10 years of comparable professional experience;
  • Demonstrated experience with:
    • managing and using large databases and database management software to query and manipulate data;
    • conducting statistical analysis and implementing best practices of research methods
    • data integrity assurance
    • personnel and financial management experience

Preferred qualifications:
  • Doctorate degree
  • Experience with Oracle, Banner, Microsoft's Power BI
  • Experience with higher education institutional rankings and data analysis