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Data Fellows of UW Tacoma
UW Tacoma Institutional Research continues to support this initiative to meet the increasing need for programs and departments to access the data needed to evaluate student progress and success, track and measure program growth, and answer basic institutional data questions.
Each cohort of Fellows come together over the course of a year in an intensive “boot camp-style” examination of the current data stores and tools available. Fellows then bring these skill and knowledge back to their units to support strategic decision-making. Some resources explored include:
- The diverse public reports and surveys openly available on the UW Tacoma IR Data and Reports page
- UW Profiles and the UW BI Portal
- UW Tacoma's IR/IT locally built, dynamic data reports
- Microsoft's Power Pivot or Power BI software to explore raw data inquiries using IR’s historical datasets
Additionally, supplemental skill development opportunities will be available to advanced data analysis, data reporting standards, and data visualization skills.
Participation
The sixth cohort of Fellows' training will take place during Winter quarter of 2024. Once a participant passes all workshop assessments and final project, they become a UW Tacoma Data Fellow and serve their program for a period of three years.
Cohort Schedule
This year the UW Tacoma Data Fellows' schedule consists of three workshops, a group data project, and a project presentation. The in-person sessions are:
1. Workshop 1: The Data - Tentatively October 22, 2024; 9 am - Noon, and 1 pm - 3 pm
a. An online assessment to be completed by Workshop 2
2. Workshop 2: The Tools - Tentatively October 29, 2024; 9 am - Noon, and 1 pm - 3 pm
a. An online assessment to be completed by Workshop 3
3. Workshop 3: Working with data and project group development - Tentatively November 5, 2024; 9 am - Noon, and 1 pm - 3 pm
4. Group Project Presentations: Tentatively November 19, 2024; 1 pm - 4 pm
Prerequisites
Participants who have data access, reporting, and analysis as part of their job description MUST receive permission of their dean or director to apply and must be approved for access to UW student data. Additionally, participants must be available for the full-day workshops and must complete each online module before being certified as a Data Fellow. During their fellowship training, each participant will work independently on the online module assessments, with ongoing assistance as needed from UW Tacoma's Office of Institutional Research. The Data Fellow will then be expected to be available to their home unit to answer day to day questions requiring access to the data, with support as needed from IR staff.
Value to the UW Tacoma Campus
At the end of the workshop, after successful completion of all parts, each participant will be added to the Data Fellows and receive access to additional UW Tacoma data and become a member of the UW Tacoma Data Governance initiative. During their three-year residency as a Fellow, ongoing development opportunities will be provided, including available external professional development opportunities for further professional development of unit-based teams. Over time, with a growing community of trained and certified Data Fellows, the campus will be better able to seek out and leverage data in support of our students and to implement and evaluate strategic and agile innovations.
Units are not expected to provide financial resources beyond the time commitment from their fellows.
Apply!
Interested? Review the Data Fellow's program with your supervisor and complete the application form before the end of the working day, October 18, 2024. Your application will be forwarded to your local Institutional Research Office, and they will reach out to inform you of your status! All decisions will be made by end of the working day, October 19, 2024
Seats are limited and our final determination will first support filling key vacancies and building Data Fellows support in areas key to student success.
Please contact Alice Few (few@uw.edu) with questions
