Asst. Provost for Data Strategy, Quinnipiac

It was at Quinnipiac University that I got my start (in 2001) in online education and learning design. The university is an amazing place to work, and I’m so excited to highlight this amazing opportunity for an assistant provost for data strategy and director of institutional effectiveness. Annalisa Zinn, vice president for academic innovation and effectiveness, answered my questions about the role.

Q: What is the university’s mandate behind this role? How does it help align with and advance the university’s strategic priorities?

A: This role was created because Quinnipiac sees institutional intelligence as a strategic asset. We’re looking for someone who can build a next-generation institutional effectiveness and data strategy function that leverages data automation and dynamic dashboards for reporting and helps leaders across the university move from data to insight to action. The mandate is to strengthen how the university uses data, analytics, assessment, reporting and emerging technologies to support decision-making, improve organizational effectiveness and advance strategic priorities. It’s an opportunity to help shape the future of the institution by making data more accessible, actionable and impactful across every area of the university.

Q: Where does the role sit within the university structure? How will the person in this role engage with other units and leaders across campus? Is the role in-person, hybrid or remote-eligible?

A: The assistant provost for data strategy, director of institutional effectiveness will partner with senior leaders across campus to help shape institutional strategy through data and evidence. The position reports directly to the vice president for academic innovation and effectiveness in the Office of the Provost and serves as the university’s senior operational leader for institutional effectiveness. It has broad visibility across the institution and plays a key role in connecting data, strategy and decision-making.

This is a highly collaborative position. The successful candidate will partner with leaders and units and across the university not only for reporting, but especially to help transform complex data into meaningful insight and action. The position is based on Quinnipiac’s picturesque Mount Carmel campus in Hamden, Conn., with hybrid work options possible.

Q: What would success look like in one year? Three years? Beyond?

A: Within the first year, we’d expect the successful candidate to establish strong campus partnerships, build trust in the data function and make tangible progress in modernizing reporting and analytics. That could include implementing more automated reporting processes, expanding dashboard capabilities, improving data governance and reducing the manual effort associated with recurring institutional and external reporting.

Over the next three years, success would mean creating a more mature institutional intelligence ecosystem, one where leaders have timely access to actionable insights, self-service analytics are widely used, predictive modeling generates actionable insights more broadly, trainings on how to use data are offered regularly and AI and automation help accelerate the path from question to answer.

Long term, success means making data a true strategic asset for Quinnipiac. Institutional intelligence would be embedded in how the university operates through trusted dashboards, self-service analytics, predictive models and evidence-informed planning processes. The institutional research function would evolve from primarily reporting what happened in the past to helping the university understand what is happening now, what is likely to happen next and where action is needed most.

Q: What kinds of future roles would someone who took this position be prepared for?

A: This role offers a strong foundation for senior leadership in higher education by bringing together institutional research, assessment, advanced analytics, data strategy, AI and universitywide partnership. More importantly, it offers the opportunity to build and lead a modern institutional intelligence function with broad strategic impact, not simply maintain an existing operation.