The Senior Partnering Consultant is part of the Office of Data and Strategic Analytics (DSA) at Vanderbilt University. They are a key contributor, working in partnership with their designated academic areas or support units, ensuring that Vanderbilt makes decisions utilizing high-quality and relevant data, information, and analysis. These areas may vary over time depending on demand and priorities. Reporting directly to the Senior Director of Institutional Research & Academic Partnering, the Senior Partnering Consultant will also have a strong dotted-line reporting relationship with the designated leaders supporting the Graduate School, including the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School.

 The Senior Partnering Consultant is a generalist role providing professional support around data, information, and analysis to leaders. The position is also a “matrix” role, with integration into both the Graduate School and also the broader DSA Team. The consultant will build strong relationships in the Graduate School to provide targeted and nuanced support, helping  leaders and staff to interpret and use information for decision-making and planning. They will draw on relationships within the DSA Team to access specialist support as required. They will provide feedback to DSA about priorities and preferences among users, to ensure that DSA outputs are focused on institutional and local need.

The key function of a Senior Partnering Consultant is to enable their designated area(s) to make use of data, analysis, and other information to support decision-making and planning. As such, the Senior Partnering Consultant needs to draw on a broad range of skills to build relationships, understand the strategic needs of their partner areas, and analyze and translate quantitative information for senior leaders.  

A master’s or doctoral degree is necessary.

At least five years’ experience working in a professional setting is necessary.

Experience of working with quantitative information and data is necessary; this may be demonstrated by academic or professional experience.

Ability to manipulate and present data in Excel and Tableau is necessary.

Ability to work with Tableau or a similar data visualization tool is strongly preferred.

Ability to do descriptive statistical analysis (e.g., compute means, variances, change over time) is necessary.

Data storytelling experience is preferred.

Training in and experience of more advanced statistical techniques is preferred.  

Experience working in higher education is necessary, with a demonstrated understanding of how a higher educational institution works. This includes an understanding of the strategic challenges, knowledge of the formal structures, and an appreciation of the internal and external political context and how that influences appropriate behavior.

Knowledge of Graduate Education and what distinguishes it from Professional Education at Vanderbilt is preferred.  

The Office of Data and Strategic Analytics

The Office of Data and Strategic Analytics (DSA) is led by the Vanderbilt’s Chief Data Officer and is responsible for defining and leading the Vanderbilt Data Strategy, now in its second phase after a successful phase 1 (2021-2024). DSA is part of the Office of the Chancellor and works with Vice Chancellor areas across the institution to deliver value to Vanderbilt through thoughtful and intentional use of data. DSA is spearheading a transformation in Vanderbilt’s data culture as part of Vanderbilt University’s broader ambitions to define and model what a university for the 21^st Century.

DSA is made up of three teams: Institutional Research and Academic Partnering; Administrative Partnering; and Data Governance, Solutions, and Consulting. DSA works closely with other units to deliver the data strategy, including strong collaboration with Vanderbilt University Information Technology (VUIT) on technical and information security issues and the Office of General Counsel on compliance issues. 

The Graduate School

The mission of the Graduate School (GS) is to promote excellence in research, scholarship, and creative expression such that graduate students and postdoctoral trainees are optimally prepared for successful careers in academia, industry, and related fields. The Graduate School does this by recruiting the most promising pre- and post-doctoral scholars and creating an environment that fosters intellectual growth and development.

Graduate education emphasizes intensive, disciplinary-specific and interdisciplinary training, taking advantage of Vanderbilt’s uniquely collaborative and collegial culture. The Graduate School collaborates with the leadership of the schools/colleges as well as the Offices of the Vice Provosts and Vice Chancellors to ensure operational excellence. The Graduate School ensures the maintenance of the highest academic and professional standards and plays an important advocacy role for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees.