Research Analyst

Position Information

Title: Research Analyst
Division: Academic Affairs/Vice Provost
Department: Office of Institutional Research & Institutional Effectiveness
Exempt Full Time 1.0 FTE
Staff EAM/Grade: TBD by Human Resources

Reports To

Direct Report to: Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Decision Support (25%): Provides ad hoc analysis and decision-support for Cabinet, deans, chairs, program directors, committees, and accreditation work when requests align with office priorities and governance. Supports request intake, triage, tracking, and prioritization for data and reporting requests, ensuring that requests are aligned with office priorities, data-governance expectations, and available capacity. Translates technical findings into plain-language summaries, interpretation notes, dashboards, one-pagers, and other visual reporting products that are useful to non-technical audiences. Supports a culture of evidence by helping units understand the meaning, appropriate use, limitations, and planning implications of institutional data. Contributes to survey design, administration, reporting, environmental scans, benchmarking, and special studies as assigned.
• Standard Reporting and Analytics (45%): Produces and maintains recurring institutional reports and dashboards, including enrollment, census and post-census reporting, retention, graduation, student success, and other standard university metrics. Develops and maintains program review data packets, fact book content, cabinet- and dean-level one-pagers, and other standard reporting products that reduce one-off work and improve consistency. Supports assessment and academic program review reporting infrastructure, including WEAVE, assessment archives, program-review evidence packets, assessment documentation, and related reporting repositories as assigned. Coordinates or supports the course/faculty evaluation survey process, including survey setup, data validation, summary reporting, documentation, and communication of results as assigned. Supports grant-performance reporting and other externally funded project reporting by preparing validated data extracts, recurring performance summaries, and methodology documentation as assigned. Rebuilds and improves high-use reports in the institution’s reporting environment so commonly requested information can be produced more accurately, more quickly, and with less reliance on manual workarounds. Maintains a shared reporting repository, data dictionary, change log, documentation of systems and routines, and methodology notes so that reports can be understood, checked, and continued over time. Conducts data quality review and validation in partnership with units such as the Registrar, Finance, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Information Technology, and Student Success. Crafts reports and dashboards in PowerBI or similar reporting and visualization tools for use by operational units in the performance of their functional responsibilities. Uses institutionally approved AI-assisted tools, when appropriate, to support documentation, report drafting, code or query review, survey-theme summaries, data-cleaning workflows, and workflow efficiency; verifies AI-assisted outputs before use in institutional reports, dashboards, or official submissions.
• External Reporting and Compliance Support (30%): Serves as the primary technical preparer and coordinator for assigned official reports, including IPEDS, Common Data Set, Financial Value Transparency/Gainful Employment, NSLDS student-level and program-level reporting, National Student Clearinghouse, state submissions, WSCUC/SARA-related reporting, accreditation data requests, and other required federal, state, accreditor, or institutional submissions as assigned. Supports required external reporting by preparing data extracts, validating definitions, reconciling discrepancies, documenting methodology, and coordinating timelines for federal, state, accreditor, and other official submissions. Coordinates with responsible offices on coding decisions, definitions, validation procedures, data-quality checks, interpretation notes, and repeatable workflows for high-stakes reporting. Maintains the annual reporting calendar for assigned external and institutional reports, including timelines, definitions, data sources, responsible offices, validation steps, submission records, and methodology notes. Documents assumptions, validation steps, limitations, and human-review procedures for AI-assisted analysis or reporting workflows when such tools are used. Works with Information Technology, Data Governance, and the supervisor to ensure AI-enabled tools are used consistently with institutional policy, FERPA, data privacy, security expectations, and official-reporting standards. Completes responses to surveys by publishers and other organizations when aligned with office priorities. Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Disclaimer

This list of responsibilities is not exhaustive. Details relating to both essential and non-essential functions of the job are not precise and are only an approximation, which can vary on a day-to-day basis and are subject to change on an as-needed basis and/or in the sole discretion of supervisory management.

Education And Experience

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as higher education, social science, statistics, public policy, data analytics, information systems, or a related discipline. Demonstrated experience in institutional research, higher education reporting, data analysis, business intelligence, or another role involving complex data management and interpretation. Demonstrated ability to work accurately with large datasets, apply definitions consistently, maintain documentation, and use strong quality assurance practices.
• PREFERRED: Master’s degree in a relevant field. Experience in higher education institutional research, assessment support, accreditation reporting, or decision-support work. Experience with student information systems, enterprise reporting tools, business intelligence platforms, or relational databases used in higher education. Experience supporting IPEDS, Common Data Set, National Student Clearinghouse, WSCUC/SARA-related reporting, Financial Value Transparency/Gainful Employment, or other federal, state, accreditation, compliance-related, or official reporting submissions. Experience developing dashboards, methodology notes, data documentation, data dictionaries, and recurring institutional reports. Experience with assessment management systems, survey platforms, program-review documentation, academic assessment reporting, or course/faculty evaluation reporting. Experience supporting grant-performance reporting or externally funded project reporting. Knowledge of enrollment, retention, graduation, financial aid, student success, and academic program data structures. Familiarity with AI-assisted features in Microsoft 365, PowerBI, SQL/query environments, survey tools, documentation tools, or similar platforms.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to interact and work with individuals at all levels of the University. Ability to explain technical information clearly to faculty, academic leaders, operational units, and other non-technical users. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite or related software, with advanced skill in spreadsheets and data management tools. Demonstrated skill in reporting tools, data visualization tools, and database or query environments appropriate to institutional reporting work. Advanced skills in SQL and demonstrated experience working with relational databases. Familiarity with Ellucian Colleague, Slate, Canvas, PowerBI, or similar systems preferred. Ability to manage data from disparate sources and reconcile differences across systems, definitions, timing, and reporting requirements. Organized with meticulous attention to detail, thoroughness, documentation, and quality assurance. Excellent project management skills and the ability to manage multiple recurring deadlines, prioritize work and resources, and maintain a predictable reporting calendar. Broad experience in data reduction, analysis, documentation, interpretation, and presentation of research findings. Ability to work collaboratively with offices such as the Registrar, Finance, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Information Technology, Student Success, and accreditation leaders. Demonstrated AI literacy, including understanding of appropriate and inappropriate uses of generative AI in institutional research, reporting, documentation, and decision-support workflows. Ability to use approved AI-enabled tools responsibly for productivity, documentation, summarization, and workflow support while protecting confidential student, employee, financial, and institutional data. Ability to validate AI-generated summaries, code, formulas, visualizations, or analytic suggestions against source data, institutional definitions, and approved reporting methodology. Understanding of privacy, confidentiality, FERPA-sensitive data handling, and institutional restrictions on entering protected or sensitive data into public or unapproved AI tools.

Physical Requirements

• Duties involve light work in an office and community setting and require a minimum of physical effort with intermittent sitting, standing, climbing stairs, and walking inclines. Must be able to lift 20 pounds, walk the campus with ease, and have excellent motor skills. Must have finger dexterity. Must be able to communicate information and ideas so that others will understand.

Other Requirements

• This is a full-time, exempt, 1.0 FTE staff position. Forty hours per week (M-F) will be the general rule. However, depending on project cycles, external reporting deadlines, and workflow demands of the office, additional hours or workday schedule changes may occasionally be required. Must be willing and able to work occasional nights and weekends and a varying schedule.