"Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Analytics"

Job Description

The Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Analytics serves as the principal leader for enterprise-wide planning, institutional analytics, and institutional effectiveness, ensuring Austin Peay State University has the performance insights and decision-support needed to advance academic quality, student success, and strategic priorities. Reporting to the Senior Vice Provost and Senior Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs, the AVP leads the development and use of data-informed planning tools, including key performance indicators, dashboards, scorecards, and forecasting models, to support student success, academic planning, program review, resource allocation, outcomes-based funding, and continuous improvement.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

This role advances a culture of evidence by partnering with academic and administrative leaders to strengthen institutional research functions (e.g., official reporting, trend analysis, and ad hoc studies), improve data quality, integrity, and shared definitions, and enhance the accuracy and usefulness of internal and external reporting, including state and federal requirements. While collaborating closely with the University's accreditation leadership to provide data and evidence as needed, the AVP does not oversee accreditation activities or serve as the University's SACSCOC liaison.

• Lead institutional research, analytics, and decision support by designing and communicating analyses and evaluation projects that inform academic strategy, student success, enrollment, budgeting/resource planning, and operational improvement.
• Develop and maintain performance measurement and visualization tools (KPIs, SLO metrics, dashboards, scorecards, and routine reporting) in partnership with Academic Affairs leadership, chairs, divisional VPs, and unit leaders to drive institutional performance continuous improvement.
• Strengthen institutional effectiveness and assessment practices by helping units build measurable outcomes, assessment plans, improvement cycles, and evidence-based decision-making through consultation, training, and analytic support.
• Ensure data integrity, transparency, and governance by standardizing definitions and documentation, implementing quality assurance practices, reducing duplicative reporting, coordinating with key offices (Office of Information Technology, Office of the Registrar, Enrollment Management, Finance and Administration, and others), and helping lead the University's Data Governance Council.
• Oversee internal/external reporting and compliance submissions (e.g., Fact Book, IPEDS, National Student Clearinghouse, and other state/federal/national surveys), maintaining consistent methodology and audit-ready processes.
• Lead Tennessee Higher Education Commission Quality Assurance Funding analytics and reporting by coordinating institutional participation and evidence for required components (e.g., gen ed assessment, major field tests, program reviews/audits, program accreditation status, student success initiatives, satisfaction surveys such as NSSE, and access/success metrics).
• Produce executive-level reporting and forecasting by delivering decision-ready briefs and presentations and conducting trend analysis, scenario modeling, and forecasting to support planning, enrollment, outcomes-based funding performance, and risk management.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to lead and design institutional analytics initiatives and processes with employees from a variety of university offices and divisions.
• Ability to lead university committees and teams to accomplish objectives.
• Effectively use a variety of computer software applications efficiently.
• Ability to interact in an effective and appropriate manner with diverse populations, the University community and the public.
• Ability to supervise personnel and complete all associated personnel actions in a timely and accurate manner.
• Ability to prepare and analyze reports.
• Ability to work independently, make sound decisions and effectively solve problems.
• Maintain a commitment to accuracy, clarity, promptness, reliability and creativity.
• Ability to communicate effectively.
• Ability to develop and interpret policy.

Minimum Requirements

• MS in Computer Science, Data Science, Data Analytics, or related field required; Ph.D. preferred
• A minimum of four (4) years of experience in developing data-informed planning tools, including key performance indicators, dashboards, scorecards, and forecasting models used to support academic planning, student success, program review, and continuous improvement in higher education.

Physical Requirements

Sedentary Work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects.