Director of Institutional Research and Analytics

Position Purpose:

The Director of Institutional Research and Analytics directs the institutional research, reporting, and analytics functions within the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Decision Support. The Director ensures that institutional data are accurate, consistent, timely, and useful for compliance, accreditation, planning, evaluation, and university decision-making.

Reporting to the Chief Data Officer and Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Decision Support, the Director translates institutional priorities into an achievable research and reporting work plan, supervises assigned professional staff, and conducts and reviews analyses that support student success and institutional improvement. The position combines staff leadership with hands-on research, reporting, and consultation with campus partners. The Director exercises independent professional judgment in selecting research methods, managing assignments, and resolving routine analytical and reporting issues within approved priorities and institutional standards.

The Chief Data Officer and Associate Vice President leads enterprise data strategy, governance, and institutional data policy. The Director implements those standards within research and reporting, coordinates analytical and technical priorities, and works with the Manager of Data Integration and Optimization, who leads technical development and integration in partnership with Information Technology Services.

Core Competencies:

1. Represents Aurora University in the most positive manner with prospective, former and current students, clients, suppliers and the community we serve. Interacts effectively with a diverse group of faculty, staff, students and other customers of our service, learns and uses operating practices of the department and Aurora University.
2. Upholds the Mission Statement: Aurora University is an inclusive community dedicated to the transformative power of learning. As a teaching-centered institution, we encourage undergraduate and graduate students to discover what it takes to build meaningful and examined lives. Our singular goal is to empower our students to achieve lasting personal and professional success.
3. Handles all information with tact and discretion and recognizes the confidential nature of university business.
4. Supports learning through performance of essential job functions and performing other duties and functions as necessary or as assigned, including voluntary participation in university committees, activities and events.

Essential Job Functions:

1. Manage institutional research and reporting operations. Develop and maintain the annual analytics and reporting calendar; anticipate emerging information needs; recommend research priorities; and organize recurring and ad hoc work within priorities approved by the Chief Data Officer and Associate Vice President. Establish project milestones, manage assignments, and escalate resource constraints and competing institutional demands.
2. Supervise and develop assigned professional staff. Establish clear expectations, coordinate workloads, review performance, support professional development, and maintain cross-training and continuity for critical functions.
3. Oversee the preparation, validation, and timely submission of assigned federal, state, accreditor, association, and other external reports, including IPEDS, the Common Data Set, and NCAA reporting. Coordinate institutional reviews and approvals and maintain supporting documentation.
4. Monitor changes in reporting requirements and definitions with staff and campus partners. Assess their effects on institutional research processes, implement necessary updates, and communicate significant issues to the Chief Data Officer and Associate Vice President.
5. Conduct and oversee research on enrollment, retention, persistence, completion, student outcomes, financial aid, academic programs, workforce data, and other approved priorities. Examine differences across relevant student populations, programs, and instructional modalities to identify barriers to success and opportunities for improvement. Select appropriate methods and communicate findings, limitations, and implications for action.
6. Establish and apply quality assurance procedures for official statistics, analyses, and reports. Review cohort definitions, calculations, research methods, and interpretations; reconcile discrepancies with data owners; and document decisions and corrections.
7. Develop and maintain reports, dashboards, institutional profiles, benchmarks, and key performance indicators with staff and campus partners. Endure measures are clearly defined and aligned with AUnity strategic priorities, including student outcomes, program performance, operational effectiveness, and resource planning. Interpret progress and identify questions requiring further investigation.
8. Coordinate reporting and analytics requirements with technical development. Define analytical requirements, prioritize enhancements within approved work plans, establish criteria for validating results, and review analytical outputs. Partner with the Data Integration Manager, ITS, and consultants on reliable data delivery, automation, and reporting workflows.
9. Apply institutional data governance, privacy, security, and access standards within research and reporting. Maintain documented definitions, query logic, report specifications, validation procedures, and version history. Refer enterprise policy decisions to the Chief Data Officer.
10. Provide research, analyses, and data documentation for accreditation, program review, assessment, strategic planning, and the Annual Institutional Effectiveness Report. Partner with campus colleagues to define outcomes, establish baselines and appropriate comparisons, and evaluate institutional initiatives to inform program and service improvements. Collaborate with the Institutional Effectiveness and Decision Support Analyst and Coordinator on assigned projects.
11. Consult with campus partners to clarify information needs, define research questions, interpret, and apply results responsibly. Prepare accessible reports, presentations, and executive summaries, and provide guidance and training on institutional data and measures.
12. Improve the efficiency and reproducibility of research and reporting through documented procedures and appropriate use of approved analytical technologies. Evaluate approved AI-assisted tools where useful, validate their outputs, and follow institutional privacy and security standards. Perform other related duties as assigned.

Essential Job Requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree in a field with substantial preparation in research methods, statistics, analytics, or a related discipline required. Doctoral degree in a related field preferred.

Skills:

• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in institutional research, higher education analytics, institutional reporting, or a closely related field, including direct responsibility for higher education reporting.
• Demonstrated experience supervising professional staff or leading substantial collaborative projects, with the ability to set expectations, coordinate assignments, provide feedback, and support staff development.
• Experience preparing, validating, and coordinating external higher education reports, including IPEDS, and applying reporting definitions and requirements accurately.
• Strong knowledge of quantitative research methods, statistical analysis, institutional benchmarking, data quality assurance, and responsible interpretation of results.
• Proficiency in SQL and experience with analytical tools or languages such as R, Python, SAS, or SPSS; ability to review queries, analytical logic, and reproducible reporting processes.
• Experience with enterprise data systems, relational data structures, data warehouses, and dashboard or visualization tools; ability to translate information needs into analytical and technical specifications.
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills, including the ability to explain complex findings and limitations to nontechnical audiences.
• Strong project management, organizational, and documentation skills; sound judgment in managing deadlines, competing priorities, and sensitive information.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and working proficiency with Word and PowerPoint.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supervising and developing professional research or technical staff.
• Experience with Ellucian Colleague, Colleague Insights, EAB Edify, or comparable platforms.
• Experience supporting accreditation, program review, student success research, survey analysis, or evaluation of institutional initiatives.

Special Requirements:

• Completes required human subjects research, FERPA, and data privacy training.
• Maintains current knowledge of institutional research practices and applicable reporting requirements.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to work at a computer station for long periods of time.
• Ability to communicate and interact via electronic mail and telephone.