Meet Our Staff
Institutional Effectiveness
Carolinda Douglass
Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness
Altgeld Hall 310
815-753-0492 | cdoug@niu.edu
Provides primary oversight of the Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation; Decision Support and Analysis; and Institutional Research departments. Douglass is responsible for academic planning and development, academic program review and facilitating the program prioritization process. Douglass also is a professor of public health and serves as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission.
Susan Smith
IT Associate Director/Project Manager for Institutional Effectiveness
Altgeld Hall 308
815-753-1035 | ssmith43@niu.edu
Serves as the primary contact for Institutional Effectiveness project requests, determines small-scale from large-scale projects, makes project referrals, tracks all projects and oversees the coordination of large scale projects. Smith is responsible for the analysis, reporting and project coordination of data and survey results related to Institutional Effectiveness projects and works closely with senior leadership to assess and define Institutional Effectiveness priorities, processes and guidelines.
Jeanie Sparacino
Office Manager
Altgeld Hall 312
815-753-8378 | jsparacino@niu.edu
Supports the vice provost for Institutional Effectiveness (IE), the IE projects coordinator and the units that report to the vice provost (i.e., Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation and Institutional Research).
Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation
Ritu Subramony
Director, Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation
Swen Parson 316
815-753-3545 | rsubramony1@niu.edu
Oversees NIU's regional accreditation activities, centralized assessment activities pertaining to academic degree programs and support units; leads and manages all accreditation, assessment and evaluation functions including facilitating policy development in accordance with Higher Learning Commission requirements.
Carrie Zack
Associate Director, Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation
Swen Parson 316
815-753-0816 | czack@niu.edu
Facilitates operations and directs initiatives related to accreditation, assessment, and evaluation and collaborates with other units within Institutional Effectiveness.
Tawanda Gipson
Senior Research Associate
Swen Parson 316
815-753-1197 | tgipson1@niu.edu
Assists with managing several projects including the university writing project, the alumni survey, the course activity documentation, the off-campus program location management system and the voluntary system of accountability project.
Decision Support and Analysis
Jeff Reynolds
Director, Decision Support and Analysis
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-7997 | jreynolds@niu.edu
Provides empirically based reporting and analysis to support enterprise level, data-informed decision making by university leadership. Network affiliation includes the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities Commission on Information, Measurement and Analysis, the University of Delaware Higher Education Consortia Advisory Board, the Association of Institutional Research and NIU’s Data Management Committee.
Sarah Leis
Associate Director, Decision Support and Analysis
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-4242 | sleis@niu.edu
Functional data/reporting lead for institutional studies and data systems including that of the Delaware Cost Study and the Academic Analytics research/scholarship benchmarking data system. Served as one of two primary data mapping and reporting contacts and was the direct liaison to multiple divisions/colleges and office/areas during program prioritization.
Institutional Research
Jun Zhang
Research Associate, Institutional Research
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-6006 | jzhang@niu.edu
Provides support and benchmarking information for university reporting on trends in retention and graduation rates. Supporting university enrollment management, conducts analyses using data from national sources to examine student flow from NIU to other colleges and universities. Conducts analyses to identify the effects of various student and economic factors on student success and graduation.
Debbie O'Dell
Institutional Research Data Specialist
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-0626 | dodell@niu.edu
Conducts analyses for the preparation and submission of college guides and surveys and provides information for external reporting for bond agencies and university contracts. Responsible for the final compilation of the annual NIU Data Book and NIU fall student profile.
Xiao Bao
Information Technology Technical Associate
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-2766 | xbao@niu.edu
Supports the university with analyses through applications of business intelligence software. Conducts benchmarking analyses and provides support for data visualization.
Pingping Ren
Research Associate
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-6007 | pren@niu.edu
Conducts analyses that provide data for state and federal agencies, university offices and departments, and other agencies. Provides extensive data for university program review efforts. Responsible for external reporting for international student surveys. Analyzes student enrollments, degrees, academic plans, credit hour production and analyses of economic factors.
Jason Reed
Institutional Research Data Coordinator
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-6001 jreed4@niu.edu
Conducts analyses for the preparation and submission of college guides and surveys and provides information for external reporting.
Testing Services
Greg Barker
Director, Testing Services and
Academic Affairs Research Support
Adams Hall 117
815-753-4742 | gbarker1@niu.edu
Provides accurate and meaningful ad hoc data reports addressing recruitment, retention, academic equity, program review, accreditation, and admissions. Works extensively with NIU’s Chief Diversity Office to identify academic equity gaps in course completion, retention, and graduation.
Contact Us
Main Office
Altgeld Hall 312
815-753-1035
815-753-8378
Academic Planning
Altgeld Hall 312
815-753-8378
Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation
Swen Parson 316
815-753-3545
Decision Support and Analysis
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-7997
Institutional Research
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-6001
