Vice President for Student Success and Institutional Effectiveness - Inaugural P

New River Community College, City of Saratoga Springs

Overview

SUNY Empire seeks an inaugural Vice President for Student Success and Institutional Effectiveness. This senior leadership role will provide data-informed strategy to support a holistic strategy for student success, with two core functions: student success and institutional effectiveness. The vice president will lead student success, institutional research, and strategic plan tracking, reporting directly to the president and serving on the executive leadership team to drive evidence-based, mission-aligned innovation and continuous improvement.

This position requires integrating robust data analytics into core continuous improvement functions, including strategic plan implementation, assessment, accreditation, and a broad portfolio of student success initiatives. The vice president will collaborate with stakeholders across the university to align institution-wide student success efforts with the institutional research function.

The vice president oversees a budget of $10 million (exclusive of benefits) and is responsible for the oversight and professional development of more than 100 employees. The AVP of Student Success and AVP of Institutional Effectiveness (currently vacant) report to this position. The AVP of Student Success leads day-to-day operations of student support services; the AVP of Institutional Effectiveness leads institutional research, reporting, dashboards, and analytics. The Vice President partners with the Provost/Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management and Marketing, the CIO, and Finance for reporting, data governance, systems integration, forecasting, and strategic budgeting.

The university is in the third year of its strategic plan, Elevate ’28, focusing on evidence-based work in student success, academic and inclusive excellence, organizational effectiveness, and public visibility. SUNY Empire aims to leverage its strengths in a changing landscape to be a market leader in adult and online learning.

Qualities

Mission-aligned strategic leader with senior experience overseeing student-facing service units or initiatives with outcome improvements.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with agility, flexibility, and creativity.
Knowledge of AI and its application within an academic setting, especially as it relates to organizational/institutional effectiveness, institutional research, and student success.
Experience navigating complex employee contracts (e.g., collective bargaining or similar environments).
Ability to work with internal and external stakeholders to advance the university’s mission.

Primary Responsibilities

Student Success
- Provide evidence-forward, student-first leadership focused on measurable improvements in student outcomes and experience.
- Collaborate across the institution to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive strategies and programs that promote measurable student success improvements (including retention and graduation rates) in online learning environments.
- Provide executive oversight and outcomes accountability for student support and outreach functions through the AVP of Student Success and unit directors.
- Ensure continuous improvement practices are integrated into all student success services and initiatives through an outcomes-driven, data-centered approach.
Data Governance and Compliance
- Ensure accuracy and compliance with mandatory data reporting (e.g., IPEDS, SUNY required reports, etc.).
- Co-lead a university-wide data governance program with the CIO and AVP of Institutional Effectiveness to establish data definitions, stewardship roles, access standards, and data quality controls for trustworthy reporting and analytics.
- Engage in project prioritization to ensure the institution measures what matters for the strategic plan, accreditation, and compliance purposes.
Strategic Plan and Accreditation Tracking
- Devise and implement an overarching assessment strategy to support institutional partners in implementing the strategic plan, including tracking and reporting data.
- Lead evidence management, documentation systems, dashboards, reporting, timelines, and readiness tracking to support accreditation and assessment (in partnership with Academic Affairs).
- Oversee the creation and maintenance of dashboards for institution-wide strategic priority and accreditation tracking.
- Champion a culture of innovation, measurement, and continuous improvement across the institution, including operational efficiency of units.
- Partner with Administration and Finance to ensure strategic budgeting priorities are tracked and represented through a data-driven dashboard strategy.
Support Enrollment and Revenue Projections
- Coordinate enrollment and net revenue forecasting models in partnership with Enrollment Management and Finance.
- Collaborate with key stakeholders to ensure alignment between projection models and changing environmental context (e.g., policy, SUNY requirements).

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications: Earned doctorate from a U.S. accredited institution. Minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in a data-informed environment focused on driving student success and institutional effectiveness. Leadership experience overseeing enterprise-scale student success initiatives or student-facing service functions. Demonstrated quantitative and technical skills to ensure accurate, consistent, and visually compelling data representations. Experience leading institutional research or a similar entity with oversight of institutional data, dashboards, and data governance. Strong analytical and organizational skills. Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal abilities. Experience with technology-enabled student support solutions and data analytics. Demonstrated experience managing budgets and aligning resources to strategic priorities.
Preferred Qualifications: Doctorate in data analytics, data science, mathematics, higher education, or related field (or equivalent such as quantitatively informed publications). Experience leading enterprise change initiatives across multiple divisions. Ability to lead teams using modern analytics and visualization tools (e.g., Power BI/Tableau and SQL-based environments). Experience applying AI-enabled analytics or automation to improve student success and/or institutional effectiveness. Experience navigating complex employee contracts.

Additional Information

This position is in Saratoga Springs, NY. Travel is required. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. VISA sponsorship is not available.
SUNY Empire serves 17,500 students across New York and beyond. Administrative offices are in Saratoga Springs, NY. Visit to learn more.
Salary: $220,000 - $235,000

SUNY Empire is committed to a multicultural, inclusive environment. All qualified applicants receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We support diverse faculty and staff as essential to academic excellence and global readiness.

SUNY Empire provides reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities, veterans, or wounded warriors where appropriate. For accommodations, contact the Office of Human Resources at .

To apply, visit

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