Position Details

Posting Details
Position will be posted for a minimum of one week, after which it is subject to removal without notice.

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The Opportunity

The University of Vermont ( UVM ) invites nominations and applications for the position of Executive Director of Institutional Research and Assessment. Reporting to the Provost, the Executive Director will provide enterprise-level leadership for the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment ( OIRA ), advancing a strategic data, assessment, and decision-support agenda that strengthens institutional effectiveness, informs executive decision-making, and supports the University's mission. This leader will foster a culture of responsible, transparent, and actionable data use; align data governance, analytics, assessment, and emerging technologies with institutional goals; and serve as a trusted advisor on the interpretation and strategic application of institutional data. The next Executive Director will also help define

OIRA's future role as both a steward of UVM's official institutional data and a strategic partner

with leaders across the University.

OIRA is responsible for the use and reporting of the University's official institutional data and statistics regarding students, faculty, and staff, including accreditation, IPEDS reporting, and college ranking data, to name a few. The next Executive Director will provide institutional leadership, in partnership with Enterprise Technology Services, for data governance, stewardship, and architecture to ensure secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible data that supports regulatory reporting, contractual obligations, external requirements, institutional accountability, and lifecycle management practices that ensure data is collected, maintained, used, and retained in ways that are purposeful, efficient, and sustainable. They will work to advance an enterprise business intelligence and analytics strategy, including institutional metrics, dashboards, and self-service capabilities, while building campus-wide capacity for data- informed decision-making, data literacy, privacy and security, and the responsible and ethical use of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, and lead adoption of these tools and practices across units to ensure consistent and effective use.

Priorities and Expectations for Leadership
Providing Support and Direction to a Strong Team

The OIRA office has a team of analysts and assessment professionals who are deeply committed to meeting the needs of the University. The next Executive Director will have the opportunity to build on this strong foundation by clarifying priorities, strengthening internal alignment, developing a sustainable service model, and positioning the team as a responsive, trusted, and strategic partner to academic and administrative units across UVM . In partnership with colleagues from Enterprise Technology Services, the Executive Director will also provide leadership for the data governance and data stewardship structures of UVM .

Providing Institutional Data and Analytics to Undergird the Implementation of the New Strategic Plan

As President Tromp establishes the University's strategic direction through the finalization of the new strategic plan, Green, Gold, and Bold , there will be strong interest from many stakeholders across the institution in OIRA's support for data-identification and analysis of data sets at a variety of levels. The identification, definition and tracking of institution-wide metrics of achievement, and the distribution across the institution of responsibilities for achieving these metrics will be a first priority. OIRA will also support individual units, both in identifying and tracking their contributions to the institution-wide metrics outlined in the strategic plan, and for metrics specific to their divisional and unit goals. In this work, the Executive Director will have the opportunity to work closely with a variety of leaders across the campus in defining measures, identifying data sources, and then providing regular and timely reporting on the progress toward strategic objectives.

Support for Accreditation Analysis and Reporting

As a large public land-grant research university with an affiliated major medical center, UVM has significant institutional, programmatic, accreditation, financial aid, IPEDS , ranking, and external reporting obligations. The different programs, schools and colleges look to OIRA to assist with identification of key data needed for accrediting purposes, as well as retrieving, analyzing, and formatting the data elements to meet accreditation requirements. While OIRA has a strong reputation for excellence in this work, the new Executive Director will have the opportunity to further enhance the office's approach, and where appropriate, formalize and standardize processes to support accreditation reporting across the institution.

Using Key Institutional Data to Provide Future Projections of Key Policy Areas and Make Policy Recommendations

As institutional data becomes increasingly integrated throughout the institution, and the use of AI becomes ever more ubiquitous, the need for sophisticated analysis and the ability for university leadership to utilize the analysis quickly and effectively becomes even more important. The next Executive Director has the opportunity to shape the future of UVM's data use, working closely with stakeholders such as members of the senior leadership team, Deans, and other campus leaders, as well as with key offices that support access in a variety of ways. As the University advances a phased approach to ERP readiness and broader enterprise systems planning, the Executive Director will play an important role in aligning institutional data, analytics, reporting, and governance capabilities with evolving institutional needs. The Executive Director will have the opportunity to enhance existing relationships, build new ones, and advance a more comprehensive institutional view of UVM with this broader institutional picture. The next leader should be a proactive partner across the institution who only facilitates ease of access to an ever-growing data set, but who also provides strategic advice and insights about institutional/departmental efficiencies, makes policy recommendations, and supports future planning and projections.

Key Responsibilities

Successful candidates for this role will possess many of the following skills and experience:
• Lead the development and execution of a strategic institutional research, data, and analytics agenda that provides timely, credible, and actionable insights to support University leadership, advance strategic priorities, and strengthen planning and decision-making;
• Provide institutional leadership, in partnership with Enterprise Technology Services, and other key stakeholders, for data governance, stewardship, architecture, access, privacy and security, records management, and lifecycle practices to ensure secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible data that supports regulatory reporting, contractual obligations, external requirements, and institutional accountability, and lifecycle management practices that ensure data is collected, maintained, used, and retained in ways that are purposeful, efficient, and sustainable and that data is properly destroyed at the end of

life in accordance with the University's Records Retention Schedule;
• Advance an enterprise business intelligence and analytics strategy, including institutional metrics, dashboards, and self-service capabilities, while building campus- wide capacity for data-informed decision-making, data literacy, and the responsible and ethical use of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, and lead adoption of these tools and practices across units to ensure consistent and effective use;
• Champion the University's compliance, privacy, information security, acceptable use, and records management programs and principles, modeling responsible data use and guiding others in the ethical, secure, and appropriate use of institutional data;
• Advance assessment strategies and analytics that enable academic and administrative units to interpret and apply evidence of instructional quality, student learning and support, and operational effectiveness;
• Oversee the design and implementation of a strategy for the administration of internal surveys, the development of performance metrics, and the interpretation of benchmark data to support evidence-based institutional planning;
• Lead institutional research, assessment, and analytics efforts that support student success, persistence, retention, and degree completion, providing actionable insights that inform institutional strategy and student-centered decision-making;
• Provide strategic direction and day-to day leadership for research analysts and professional staff who support institution-wide data, analysis, reporting, assessment, and data strategy objectives; establish office priorities, staff assignments, workflow, and budget practices that support departmental and divisional goals; develop approaches to assess productivity, communication, and service effectiveness; and collaborate with directors and vice provosts to ensure alignment of OIRA's work with university priorities; and
• Represent OIRA across the university, participate in national organizations, and contribute institutional data expertise on standing and ad hoc leadership groups, task forces, and University committees.

Professional Qualities and Qualifications

Work skills, Experience, Qualifications, and Education Requirements
• A master's degree or higher in data management, computer science, statistics,

educational research, higher education, public policy, or a related field;
• At least five years of significant, progressively responsible experience in higher education or a comparably complex organization, including experience supervising