Director of Data-Driven Institutional Research

Director, Office Of Assessment & Institutional Research

Milwaukee, WI
Full Time
JR

Current Employees:
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Position Title:

Director, Office of Assessment & Institutional Research

Job Category:
Limited

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Profile:
Assistant Vice Provost (Inst)

Job Duties:

The OAIR Director provides strategic leadership for the design, implementation, and communication of analytical work that supports both internal and external stakeholders. The Director oversees institutional research, assessment, accreditation support, data governance, and data visualization functions. This role requires strong technical competency, exceptional communication skills, a commitment to equity and student success, and the ability to guide the institution toward greater analytical maturity-including improved data quality, automation, business intelligence, and the responsible use of AI.

Leadership & Strategic Direction
Provide vision and direction for OAIR's institutional research, assessment, and data governance work.
Lead the transition from static reporting toward modern, interactive, automated, and self-service data solutions.
Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on data-informed planning, policy, and institutional effectiveness.
Advance a culture of assessment and continuous improvement across academic and administrative units.
Represent UWM with UW System Administration and external agencies regarding official reporting and data policy.

External Reporting & Compliance
Oversee timely, complete, and accurate submissions for all state, federal, UW System, and accreditation reporting.
Coordinate institutional responses to external data requests, surveys, and public accountability requirements.
Ensure data integrity and adopt QA/QC processes to reduce errors and improve repeatability.

Internal Decision Support
Lead the development and interpretation of analytical studies on:
enrollment, retention, and graduation
student learning and success
academic program review and assessment
resource planning and instructional capacity analysis
strategic initiatives and university-level KPIs
Partner with academic and administrative units to design analyses that inform decision-making.
Provide oversight and analytical support for unit budget preparation, monitoring, and resource planning in collaboration with Academic Affairs and campus partners.

Data Infrastructure, Governance & Quality
Oversee the development and maintenance of institutional dashboards and collaborate with data custodians and technical teams to shape and document institutional data definitions and semantic-layer structures.
Collaborate with data custodians to improve data quality and reduce inconsistencies.
Implement best practices in metadata, lineage, documentation, and data governance.
Champion automation, reproducibility, and modernization of IR workflows.

Business Intelligence, Data Visualization & Communication
Provide leadership for campus-facing dashboards, reporting tools, and data portals.
Ensure analytical products are accessible, visually clear, equity-aware, and designed for non-technical users.
Improve data literacy across campus through trainings, workshops, and consultative support.

Assessment & Accreditation
Lead campus assessment operations, program review data support, and institutional learning outcomes work.
Manage data collection and reporting to support regional accreditation (HLC) and discipline-specific accreditors.
Partner with academic affairs leadership to embed assessment and continuous improvement practices.

Team Leadership & Professional Development
Supervise OAIR staff, fostering a collaborative, supportive, and growth-oriented work environment.
Develop staff expertise in analytics, BI tools, assessment practices, and emerging technologies (e.g., AI).
Lead change management and cross-unit coordination to reduce institutional silos.

Key

Job Responsibilities:

Sets priorities that align with the strategic directives of the Office of the Provost; ensures units effectively carry out duties in a way that best supports the strategic direction of the university and the academic mission. Provides direct supervision of department/division leadership staff, and monitors compliance with laws/regulations, university policies and procedures, and relevant contractual obligations

Advises and collaborates with the Provost, Vice Provost, and/or Associate Vice Provosts on critical issues, representing the functional area of supervision at appropriate meetings and events as requested; and serves on and/or leads various program and/or university committees as directed

Monitors on-going assessment and continuous improvement of programs/services by guiding the establishment of annual goals, ensuring progress towards goals is met, articulating challenges, and reporting on annual outcomes and achievements for programs/services

Supports special initiatives and/or…