Northern Illinois University
Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

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.

Crystal Doyle

Administrative Assistant
Altgeld Hall 312
815-753-8378 | ccoppel@niu.edu

Provides support to the vice provost for Institutional Effectiveness, academic planning and development, program review, assessment processes and the program prioritization process.

Susan Smith

Projects Coordinator 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.

Jessica Jaimes 

Graduate Research Assistant
Altgeld Hall 312
815-753-8378 | jjaimes1@niu.edu 

Support Institutional Effectiveness (IE) with various projects including Academic Planning Council, the Higher Learning Commission Resource Group, and (IE) project coordination

Ritu Subramony

Director, Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation
Adams Hall B20
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
Adams Hall B20
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
Adams Hall B20
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.

Sarah Coley

Educational Program Evaluation Coordinator
Adams Hall B20
815-753-8557 | scoley1@niu.edu

Facilitates projects within the office and supports evaluation and assessment efforts with other units across the university. Major projects include fulfilling data requests, assisting with program consultations and summarizing program prioritization efforts.

Rushika De Bruin

Graduate Research Assistant
Adams Hall B20
815-753-8659 | rdebruin1@niu.edu

Supports various projects including assistance with program consultations, Annual Assessment Update feedback, Alumni Survey reporting and the University Writing Project reporting.

Sirojuddin Arif

Graduate Research Assistant
Adams Hall B20
815-753-8689 | sarif@niu.edu

Supports various projects including assistance with assessment and evaluation activities, Alumni Survey, and federal compliance activities.

Courtney Thomas

Graduate Intern
Adams Hall B20
815-753-8659 | cthomas11@niu.edu

Supports various projects including assistance with program consultations, Alumni Survey reporting and the University Writing Project reporting.

Jeff Reynolds

Director, Decision Support and Analysis
Altgeld Hall 215
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
Altgeld Hall 215
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.

Daniel House

Director, Institutional Research
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-6002 | jhouse@niu.edu  

Oversees the operation of Institutional Research, including the preparation and submission of required reports and surveys, analyses to support university management and decision-making, and university data organization and management. Serves as the NIU Coordinator for South Korea Initiatives.

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. 

Michael Wilhelm

Institutional Research Data Specialist
Lowden Hall 103
815-753-6005 | mwilhelm@niu.edu 

Conducts analyses for reports that are required by external agencies regarding costs, credit hours, and staffing. Responsible for the management and organization of university data regarding human resources. Contributes to initiatives related to data visualization and provides technical support for the entire unit.  

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. 

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.