The Massachusetts Public Higher Education System

The Massachusetts System of Public Higher Education (“System”) enrolls approximately 260,000 students in credit-bearing programs annually. The System consists of 15 community colleges, 9 state universities and 5 University of Massachusetts (“UMass”) campuses. The Board of Higher Education (BHE) has coordination and oversight responsibilities for the entire System, and the BHE together with each respective Board of Trustees, expects all students, faculty, and staff to be held to exacting standards in the performance of their roles and responsibilities.

The BHE is staffed by its executive agency, the Department of Higher Education (DHE). The position is housed within DHE’s Research and Planning division, which is responsible for all data collection, analysis, reporting and evaluation for DHE. As a division, Research and Planning seeks to:

• Drive organizational transformation by prioritizing evidence over intuition, with data at the center of every conversation
• Ensure data accuracy and relevance
• Protect student privacy and adhere to legal requirements
• Incorporate best innovative practices for data collection and usage
• Provide decision-makers with powerful, sustainable tools to support policymaking

Essential Job Functions:

• Work with DHE leadership team to support decision-making in Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, Student Financial Assistance, Workforce Development, the Commissioner’s Office, and other areas of higher education administration, providing as well as supporting staff in interpreting data and research.
• Advise and support project teams on the evaluation of DHE programs and policies in such areas as developmental education, affordability, student success, PK-16 linkages, admissions, STEM and workforce alignment.
• Partner with the Data Systems lead to ensure the integrity of the HEIRS data dictionaries by working directly with institutional research directors at Massachusetts public colleges and universities on interpreting data definitions and establishing business practices.
• Collaborate with the HEIRS modernization team on efforts to modernize, enhance and expand the system.
• Partner with the Analytics & Digital Services lead on the development of analytic tools for the agency, campuses and the general public.
• Serve as staff to system-wide taskforces and committees in the areas of performance measurement, institutional research, and data governance. 
• Coordinate the response to internal and external data requests.
• Maintain familiarity with DHE/BHE initiatives and the general policy concerns facing MA public higher education

Skills and Attributes:

• Commitment to DHE values of equity, accountability, community, empowerment, intentionality, and teamwork.
• Demonstrated commitment to addressing racial inequities in education.
• Ability and willingness to work in a hybrid (mixed face-to-face and remote) setting. Some travel to in-person meetings and events will be required.
• Ability to take initiative, assist in decisions, and help resolve problems in a collegial manner with all levels of staff and constituents.
• Ability to build and sustain authentic, productive working relationships with colleagues across teams, levels, and social identities.
• Strong attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with Massachusetts public higher education system
• Familiarity with DHE’s Higher Education Information Resource System (HEIRS)
• Experience working with SQL and large inter-relational databases
• Knowledge of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software or other student information management systems

Questions regarding this posting may be directed to Jillian Auerbach in Human Resources at jillian.g.auerbach@mass.gov

• Master’s Degree in social/behavioral science, education, statistics, or related discipline.
• Minimum of three (3) years of experience in institutional research or other higher education data analysis and research experience.
• Knowledge of research and assessment principles in higher education.
• Knowledge of public higher education data systems and procedures.
• Strong ability to comprehend, analyze, and communicate complex information quickly, especially related to databases, data analysis, and data security.
• Well-developed skills in at least one commonly used statistical software application such as SAS, R, Stata, or SPSS.
• Experience with Tableau or other visual analytics platforms.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Experience explaining data and making data presentations to a variety of stakeholders with varying levels of fluency with data.
• Experience working with an explicit equity-based lens.

Primary Location: United States-Massachusetts-Boston-1 Ashburton Place

Job: Education

Agency: Department of Higher Education

Schedule: Full-time

Shift: Day

Job Posting: Jan 21, 2022, 8:35:14 PM

Number of Openings: 1

Salary: 80,000.00 - 95,000.00 Yearly