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We last caught up with Cindy Cogswell back in 2016. At that time, Cindy was a postdoctoral fellow for assessment and evaluation at Dartmouth College. Since 2022, Cindy has served as director of data strategy at New York University for global programs, student affairs and university life.
Q: Tell us about your role at NYU. What sort of work does a director of data strategy do?
A: Thank you, Josh, for the chance to catch up and share some of my career’s evolution!
As director of data strategy, I help leverage institutional data to the benefit of our students. Practically, this looks like strategizing and identifying where data exists that can be used by staff in Student Affairs to inform the work they do for and with students. And, conversely, I serve as the liaison to central IT, IR, Data Governance and more to connect with the work they are doing and relay back to my colleagues updates and information.
Some of my current projects include leading the creation of a system of record for parent/family data, being involved in an effort to link systems together via a Student 360 approach and running a data camp for staff with my data analyst to help attendees know how to look at their own data and learn basics in Tableau.
Q: Can you share how your training and previous roles prepared you for your current leadership position at NYU?
A: Absolutely. This work has built on experiences, expertise and knowledge gained across all of my professional work. Thinking linearly, my work at the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University has served as a baseline for a) centering on the student and b) looking at a 35,000-foot view of trends, strategies and ways to unstuck change at colleges and universities. This has helped me at NYU because of the sheer scale of campus—we have 60,000 students, three degree-granting locations and 12 sites.
From my internship with the Higher Learning Commission, I carry with me an awareness of what is crucial to do well by our students and stakeholders, which practically helps me prioritize. Holistically, from my doctoral coursework at Indiana and my postdoc at Dartmouth College, I show up as a researcher. Dartmouth had a scholar-teacher model, and while I’m not a full-time faculty member, I try to show up as a scholar-practitioner by asking questions like, who else has experienced this phenomenon? What can we learn from others? What methodology best fits our learning needs in this space?
And, most recently, drawing from being a director of strategic planning and assessment for student affairs at Ohio University, I was part of a few projects that helped me see what data strategy work is [and] gave me experience leading a campuswide effort, and these have helped prepare me tremendously for what I get to do now.
Q: What advice do you have for academics interested in a career in postsecondary evaluation, research and data?
A: If you’re interested but not yet involved, get experience in this work. Check with your college or university’s assessment, institutional research and/or data governance staff to see if there is a way you can get involved. Conduct an informational interview and ask if there is a project or an upcoming RFP that you could observe or get involved with.
I am happy to connect with readers as well!
