University Of Alaska Anchorage: TODAY: Open Forum With Finalist For Institutional Research Director Position

Press release from the University of Alaska Anchorage:

April 20, 2021

Dear UAA Community,

As co-chairs of the UAA Institutional Research Director search committee, we are pleased
to announce the finalists for the position and the process for virtual campus visits
next week.

The search generated national interest and produced a strong set of initial applicants.
Over several weeks, committee members reviewed the applications and interviewed the
most qualified individuals, leading to the advancement of three finalists:

Metta Alsobrook, Ph.D.

Metta Alsobrook is the Dean for Institutional Effectiveness, Distance Learning, and
Compliance at Sentara College of Health Sciences.  In her current role, she is responsible
to lead the college-wide institutional effectiveness, strategic planning implementation,
serves as accreditation liaison, oversees the institution’s official policy, distance
learning, and leads the Institutional Research office.

She began working at UT Dallas in 2006. During her time there, she served as assessment,
educational program coordinator, and SACSCOC project coordinator, and distance learning
coordinator. Other previous professional experience includes director of assessment
at the University of Phoenix and Director for Institutional Effectiveness and Institutional
Research at Averett University.  Metta has experience with other institution accreditation
and programmatic accreditations, such as ABET, AACSB, CAAHEP, CCNA, and CAEP.

She earned her doctorate in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas,
her master’s degree is in Training and Development from Griffith University, Australia,
and her bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Brawijaya in Indonesia. She
completed a Graduate Certificate in Evaluation Research from the University of Texas
at Dallas and a Certificate III in Information Technology from TAFE, Australia. She
is pursuing an MS in Agile Project Management at Amberton University.

Open Forum: Monday, April 19, 8:30-9:30 a.m.Access open forum recording

Feedback survey for all candidates This survey will close at noon Friday, April 23.

David Ma, Ph.D.

David Ma has worked in the field of institutional research for more than 15 years,
including working at Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) for more than 10 years.
While working at USHE, he served as the manager of longitudinal studies and outcome
measures, IPEDS state coordinator, Complete College America state team data lead,
Utah Data Alliance Management Committee member, and many other roles. He designed
and conducted many data analyses and research projects to support student success,
budgeting, strategic planning, and effective use of resources. He was very responsive
to internal and external requests for data and reports and worked collaboratively
with USHE institutions and other stakeholders to ensure their data needs were best
met.

Earlier, his job responsibilities at the University of Utah and Mississippi State
University included data collection, data manipulation, data analysis, and data reporting;
studies of student retention, progression, and graduation; space needs assessment
and classroom space utilization analysis; internal and external surveys; mandatory
reporting to local, state, and federal agencies; and other decision-support research
and analysis. Ma earned two master’s degrees from Mississippi State University (2001
and 2003) and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah (2014).

Open Forum: Tuesday, April 20, 8:30-9:30 a.m.

Feedback survey for all candidates This survey will close at noon Friday, April 23.

Daniel Campbell, Ph.D.

Daniel Campbell completed dual baccalaureate degrees in business administration and
economics from Eastern Washington University, his M.A. in Higher Education Administration
from Washington State University and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Idaho.
His research and professional practice focus on; higher education leadership and governance,research
administration, and educational assessment/operational evaluation – all within the
framework of data-driven decision making.

For nearly twenty years, Dr. Campbell has served in various capacities at higher education
institutions throughout the northwest. This includes developing and administering
major research centers at two land-grant institutions, serving as the founding director
for an office of assessment and accreditation, developing, collaborating on, and administering
tens of millions in extramurally funded research projects and establishing working
centers for higher education institutional research and administrative data science
efforts.

He has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed publications, technical documents,
accreditation reports and refereed conference papers. He has also been an invited
speaker to national and international conferences on topics related to higher education
administration. As a professional academic administrator, Dr. Campbell maintains a
broad administrative portfolio, an active applied research agenda, mentors doctoral
students and continues to teach doctoral courses in research methods, survey design
and grant writing.

In 2019 he was recognized by WICHE for his work in developing cloud-based faculty
productivity tools. He also lends his expertise to organizations on topics related
to data warehouses, institutional research, assessment and organizational evaluation.

Open Forum: Wednesday, April 21, 8:30-9:30 a.m.

Feedback survey for all candidates This survey will close at noon Friday, April 23.

The Office of Institutional Research provides critical support to UAA’s strategic,
continuous improvement, and compliance efforts. Your active engagement in the final
stages of this search process is important. With that in mind, you are encouraged
to attend a virtual campus forum held next week for each candidate.

Schedule specifics, finalist backgrounds and information for obtaining the virtual
event can be found on the OAA Leadership page. Please save the dates for the one-hour virtual campus open forums: Monday, April
19; Tuesday, Apri 20; and Wednesday, April 21; 8:30-9:30 a.m. each day.

Thank you in advance for participating in these important visits.

—Susan Kalina and Lora Volden, Co-Chairs

On behalf of the search committee:

This press release was produced by the University of Alaska Anchorage. The views expressed here are the author’s own.