Director of Institutional Research

Job Overview

Loras College is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an educational and work environment that is inclusive, rich in diversity, and supportive of all students, faculty and staff. Individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

POSITION SUMMARY

Reporting to the Provost, the Director of Institutional Research supports the College through management of research projects and data analysis; provides the College with information that enhances strategic planning, decision making and institutional performance measures; addresses such areas as recruitment and retention of students, enrollment and program initiatives to include trend analysis. The Director of IR also works collaboratively with the Administrative Team (A-Team) on a wide range of research topics.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Reasonable Accommodations Statement

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Essential Functions Statement(s)

• Produce reports and ensure timely and accurate filing of national (IPEDS, NCAA, Common Data Set, etc.), state, regional accrediting bodies (HLC), and external professional/marketing organizations (NACUBO, US News, etc.) survey requests.
• Collaborate with and support other College offices (Admissions, Registrar, Business Office, Financial Planning (Aid)) in data gathering and report generation for required institutional reporting and institutional planning and effectiveness.

• Exercise leadership in advancing the campus community's understanding and use of institutional data, in the context of national and regional higher educational trends, to help inform decision making.
• Serve as the College IPEDS keyholder.

• Design, analyze, and implement research projects as defined by A Team or other areas on campus

• Respond to individual requests for data and information from the Loras College community, including faculty, students, and staff.
• Conduct analysis of student enrollment, retention and graduation in support of the college's strategic initiatives.

• Abstract, collect and maintain college data sets and databases including financial planning/aid, human resources, admissions, enrollment, student credit hour, graduation/retention, and career outcomes/assessment.
• Develop, support and enhance the college's web-based data analytics tools for the campus community. Retains electronic or hard copies of all reports and surveys.
• Deliver research findings clearly and concisely in a range of presentation modes-oral, written and technological.
• Compile data for annual academic program review process.

• Annually update the College Factbook

• Maintain the Office of Institutional Research's SharePoint site and keep the OIR's reports well organized and updated.
• Submit National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) enrollment and tracker files on regular intervals for College initiatives.
• Serve on college committees (Strategic Planning Council, Academic Council, HLC Steering Committee as examples) and perform related duties as assigned.
• Able to set priorities and balance competing demands on time.
• Support the mission and vision of the College and respects the College's Catholic tradition.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Competency Statement(s)

• Accuracy - Ability to perform work accurately and thoroughly.
• Analytical Skills - Ability to use thinking and reasoning to solve a problem.
• Autonomy - Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Conceptual Thinking - Ability to think in terms of abstract ideas.
• Deductive Reasoning - Ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems.
• Goal Oriented - Ability to focus on a goal and bring a project from conception to completion.
• Organized - Possessing the trait of being organized or following a systematic method of performing a task.
• Project Management - Ability to organize and direct a project to completion.
• Reliability - The trait of being dependable and trustworthy.
• Research Skills - Ability to design and conduct a systematic, objective, and critical investigation.
• Technical Aptitude - Ability to comprehend complex technical topics and specialized information.
• Working Under Pressure - Ability to complete assigned tasks under stressful situations.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

Education: Master's degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in educational research, statistics, data science, or a disciplinary area that incorporates statistics and quantitative research methods. Ph.D./Ed.D. desirable.

Experience: Five years in a related research position in an academic environment using methods of analysis regularly.

Computer Skills: Skilled in the use of a variety of software packages, including Datatel/Colleague, statistical software (R, SPSS, SAS, Minitab, STATA), Excel, data visualization software (Tableau, PowerBI), data preparation and/or analytical tools like (Tableau Prep, Alteryx, Rapid Insight) and Microsoft Operating Systems. Experience with student information systems such as Colleague Ellucian Unidata a plus.

Reasoning Ability: Ability to scope and apply common sense understanding to deal with problems involving many variables.

Quantitative Skills: Ability to structure, implement, interpret statistical analysis in both tabular and visualization formats. Proficiency and experience with research

Communication Ability: Strong written and oral presentation skills are imperative to enable communication/presentation of data findings and implications.

The institution has reviewed this job description to ensure that essential functions and basic duties have been included. It is intended to provide guidelines for job expectations and the employee's ability to perform the position described. It is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all functions, responsibilities, skills and abilities. Additional functions and requirements may be assigned by supervisors as deemed appropriate. This document does not represent a contract of employment, and the institution reserves the right to change this job description and/or assign tasks for the employee to perform, as the institution may deem appropriate.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE. Applicants must go to: http://loras.applicantpool.com to apply. Please upload: your letter of application and resume. The finalist will need to pass a background check before receiving a written employment offer.