Continued alignment work

Last year, a cross-functional group of ASR staff members convened to look for alignment opportunities, improvements, and efficiencies in our information technology work. One of the group’s recommendations was to further awareness and alignment of the valuable work of student data analytics and its connection to ASR’s stewardship of student data. This update highlights two key changes that will advance this recommendation.

First, ASR will soon be hiring a manager for the Student Data & Analytics (SDA) team, a replacement for a position previously held by John Vlk who left in October 2022. This position will be posted in the next few days in the hopes of hiring a new manager in September. In addition, the SDA manager and team will report directly to Stacey Tidball once the position has been hired. This change supports their highly collaborative role as they work with strategic leaders in all Twin Cities colleges, University Data and Institutional Reporting, the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Graduate School, all University campuses, and the Office of Information Technology to deliver meaningful insights regarding potential barriers in the student lifecycle.

This change in reporting structure is important, but so are the connections between analysts and data experts in other teams, both in and outside of ASR. The new manager position will be charged with further clarifying those connections and establishing more routine collaboration to enhance the work of student success analytics.