The Unexpected Metric

Now that I’ve been crossed over into academia for a month, I thought that I’d offer some reflections on what I’ve learned so far. Even though I have been on the Analytics & Data Science program’s advisory board for almost ten years, there are things that aren’t obvious from the outside that become clear once you are on the inside. I am still a stranger in a strange land, but I’m getting more comfortable every day.

Students First Is A Real Thing

Perhaps the biggest “aha” for me has been the realization that a university really does look at everything through the lens of what is good for the students. In every conversation I’ve had about potential plans and actions, there is always an explicit touch upon how various options would benefit students. No matter how good an idea may be, it must also be tied to helping students succeed.

I find this refreshing after years in the corporate world where the focus is weighted toward quarterly or annual revenue, customer growth, or other internally facing metrics. Things like customer satisfaction or benefits aren’t ignored in the business world, but they aren’t always front and center either. I’m not na?ve enough to think that everything will be perfect at a university and that every decision will be solely led by the impact to students. However, the fact that student impacts are raised early and often tells me that those impacts will not be left out of decision processes either.

What Does Students First Mean In Practice?

I have tried to dig into what counts as “putting students first”. Thus far, I’ve identified several specific angles that I’ll be regularly dealing with in my role. First, is providing a solid education that prepares students for the real world. What I am perhaps most looking forward to doing is providing students insights into how analytics and data science work in practice within a business environment as compared to the theory taught in school.  

Second, is providing students (and faculty too) with the opportunity to take part in projects that will lead to research publications and / or patents. PhD students in particular are under pressure to produce relevant, meaningful research. As I run the Center for Statistics and Analytical Research, a big part of my job is to ensure that we bring in projects that will let the students gain experience in working with data while also providing opportunities that lead to publications for them.

Third, is generating funding for the students. PhD students, for example, need stipends so that they can focus full time on their research, publications, and schoolwork. By bringing in work, we offset those costs. While Master’s students may not have a guaranteed stipend, they can work on projects to earn money to offset their tuition and fees. In all cases, helping students fund their degree is an important part of making sure that they can complete their degrees successfully and with as little debt as possible.

A Surprising Response

During my first week, I wanted to get a better feel for how different, competing goals would be prioritized. So, I asked a hypothetical question of my colleagues … what if I helped the center bring in work that fully funded our students’ financial needs but did not contribute much to their learning or research? I was emphatically told that would NOT be a success because learning, research, and publication is so critical to students’ success.

That answer reinforced that while money and funding are important, funding in absence of consideration of how it will help students in the context of learning and research is an incomplete victory. I am looking forward to learning how to balance student impact as an equal partner to funding. After all, one of the main reasons I moved to a university is to support students. It is nice to see that my incentives will not only enable, but require, me to do just that!