Housed within Academic Affairs, the Office of Student Success promotes academic excellence, engagement, and student thriving by empowering students to make the most of their experience at the University of Denver. Academic Affairs collaborates with the schools, divisions, academic departments, the faculty, and student life to develop programs, curricula, and experiences that support, inspire, and challenge students. Our Student Success work is defined by our mission to advance a university-wide culture of holistic student thriving by developing and promoting best practices in student success and advising, driving data-informed decision-making processes, and providing meaningful outreach to students that is both responsive and proactive.

As an educational and research community, DU values curiosity, intellectual freedom, and open communication. DU respects individual differences and embraces civil discourse. DU promotes caring and close individual attention. DU is a community distinguished by inclusiveness, collaboration, responsiveness, and accountability. As such, we are committed to enhancing the diversity of our faculty and staff. The University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

Position Summary

The Student Success Analyst works closely with the Assistant Vice Provost for Student Success to oversee and implement multiple research projects and initiatives supporting undergraduate and graduate student success. The analyst regularly communicates those research results via presentations and written/visual reports to stakeholders across campus, including executive leadership, administrative deans, and staff in multiple areas including Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Graduate Education, and Admission. The analyst focuses on providing actionable information to stakeholders across campus, developing and disseminating data analysis on student success initiatives, best practices, and understanding of the student body to stakeholders. This position requires a balance of excellent analytical and communication skills to provide appropriate interpretation and analysis of results for multiple stakeholders. The analyst collaborates closely with Institutional Research and the Office of the Registrar to ensure data integrity, including data preparation and transformation, writing queries, conducting analyses using descriptive and inferential statistical methods, and the preparation of reports.

Essential Functions

Quantitative and qualitative research, analysis, and interpretation

• Proactively identifies opportunities and manages research projects that contribute to data-informed decision-making to support student success across campus.
• Performs institutional research, analysis (including predictive), and reporting on student-success related topics such as student retention, student learning and institutional outcomes, and student thriving.
• Analyzes, recommends, and reports on university metrics (e.g., retention, placement, graduation rates, student learning, and curriculum pathways) for administrative decision-making and strategic planning.
• Interprets findings and makes recommendations on interventions to improve student success.
• Provides training and analytical/assessment support to other campus stakeholders in student success technology tool adoption and use.
• Exercises considerable independence in developing problem-solving methodologies or strategies and evaluating criteria based on recent trends in student success research.
• Partner closely with Institutional Research to represent student success goals in projects such as building routine reports for the campus community, conducting research such as campus-wide surveys and focus groups, creating scoring models that can be used to track and/or predict student outcomes.
• Liaises with Registrar’s Office to extract data, build reports, and ensure consistent data preparation and analysis.
• Assists in transitioning the existing university expertise in modeling and research for undergraduate retention to graduate student persistence, modifying and extending data collection and analysis as appropriate.
• Uses statistical software to analyze data from a variety of sources. Keeps current on knowledge of statistical software.
• Reviews current literature in the field of student success; identifies opportunities for additional research and shares best practices with student success team and other campus partners.

Data collection and management

• Identifies innovative data sources. Gathers and organizes qualitative and quantitative data. Determines the best method to collect and compile data for various projects and provides analysis.
• Maintains repositories of data and libraries of frequently used information in anticipation of projects that often will be conducted under very short timelines.
• Contributes to development of dashboard/reporting tools and processes using technology systems.
• Follows the university’s policies and best practices in data collection and management.
• Oversees updating of critical data related to student success in university systems.
• Administers surveys to students and advisors in Qualtrics and converts survey results into visualizations, concise summaries, or reports.
• Conducts focus groups and other research projects.
• Partners with Director of Student Success Operations and Student Success Coordinator to support student success operational processes, including student enrollment outreach in alignment with registration cycles each quarter.

Information dissemination, reporting, and communication

• Organizes and reports research results clearly and effectively in narrative, visual, and oral modes, using software such as Tableau or Microsoft Power BI. Designs the format and layout of data and reports, charts, tables, and other related documents and graphics in accordance with office graphic design standards.
• Works closely with the Assistant Vice Provost for Student Success to communicate research findings to faculty and staff.
• Prepares and delivers presentations to a broad array of audiences.
• Develops succinct and user-friendly research briefs intended for a general audience.
• Co-leads the university-wide Survey Strategy Group in partnership with Institutional Research.
• Communicates methodologies and timeline with liaisons and coordinates follow-up to partners across campus regarding projects with broad impact.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Statistical experience in the social sciences or education.
• Ability to develop and implement metrics, measurements, templates and tools for continual improvement tracking and monitoring of key indicators that facilitate the process of research within a culture of data-informed decision making.
• Willingness to learn tools and technologies to support data analysis and visualization.
• Demonstrated attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and manage projects under tight timelines.
• Ability to adjust work projects as priorities evolve.
• Commitment to collaborative team approach.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Two years of professional experience in data analysis and/or visualization.
• Intermediate knowledge of excel (including but not limited to Vlookup, pivot tables, calculations, basic visualizations).
• Basic knowledge of statistical concepts and applications.
• Demonstrated experience learning new technologies independently

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree.
• Experience conducting applied social/educational research and/or assessment projects.
• Three to five years of progressively responsible professional full-time experience in higher education or a non-profit organization.
• Proficiency in research project design, implementation, analysis, and stakeholder communication.
• Experience using data visualization tools such as Tableau or Power BI.
• Experience using Microsoft Access.
• Experience using Salesforce.
• Experience using Ellucian Banner.
• Experience with a scripting language like R, Python, or SQL.

Working Environment

Physical Activities

Work Schedule

The University’s administrative offices are open Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Work schedule may vary.

In accordance with the University’s flexible work policy, this position is eligible to be considered for partial remote work. Further details regarding this plan will be determined with the hiring manager and are dependent on the division and team specific needs.

Application Deadline

For consideration, please submit your application materials by 4:00 p.m. (MST) April 4, 2024.

Special Instructions

Candidates must apply online through jobs.du.edu to be considered. Only applications submitted online will be accepted.

Salary Grade Number:

The salary grade for the position is 10.

Salary Range:

The salary range for this position is $60,000 - $70,000.

The University of Denver has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what the University may pay for the position at the time of posting. The University may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal salary equity considerations, and available market information, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.

Benefits:

The University of Denver offers excellent benefits, including medical, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefit and ECO pass. The University of Denver is a private institution that empowers students who want to make a difference. Learn more about the University of Denver.

Please include the following documents with your application:

1. Resume
2. Cover Letter

The University of Denver is an equal opportunity employer. The University of Denver prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, creed, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, military enlistment, or veteran status, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under federal, state, or local law, regulation, or ordinance in any of the University's educational programs and activities, and in the employment (including application for employment) and admissions (including application for admission) context, as required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; the Americans with Disabilities Act; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; Equal Pay Act; Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act; the Colorado Protecting Opportunities and Workers' Rights ("POWR") Act; and any other federal, state, and local laws, regulations, or ordinances that prohibit discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation. For more information, please see the University of Denver's Non‑Discrimination‑Statement.

All offers of employment are contingent upon satisfactory completion of a criminal history background check.