Neva Lozada, Ed.D., associate vice president of administration for the Division of Strategic Analytics and Data Illumination (SADI) at Kean University, talks about how data strategies can drive new opportunities online and on campus..
The computer-generated transcript is below:
Kevin Hogan
OK. Hello and welcome to another episode of Innovations and Education. The podcast where we dive deep into the stories and insights of today’s most influential leaders in Ed Tech and Higher Ed. I’m your host,
Kevin Hogan, and I’m thrilled to bring you conversations with change makers who are driving innovation, inspiring others and leading with purpose. Today we have a great guest who was not only shaping the future of higher education, but also breaking barriers in leadership. Doctor Neva Lozada, associate vice president of administration for the Division of Strategic Analytics and data illumination, say that five times quickly we’ll call it Sadie. At Kane University has recently been selected as a fellow in prestigious national leadership. Anatomy. The program is designed to increase diverse representation in executive and senior level positions within higher education, and doctor Lozada’s inclusion is a testament to her expertise, vision, and commitment to transformative leadership. In our conversation today, we’ll explore her journey, her leadership philosophy, and what it means to be a driving force for diversity and inclusion in higher education. Whether you’re an inspiring leader or sees an executive, Dr. Losada story will inspire and challenge you to think about the impact that you want to make on your campus. So sit back and let’s get into it. OK, Nita, thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Thanks, Kevin. Thanks for having.
Kevin Hogan
I guess we’ll start off with a word congratulations. The news off the wire is that you have been named to the HACU Leadership Academy and you were only one of 45 distinguished higher education professionals nationwide to be chosen for this cohort and HAC, who stands for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Well. Oh.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Thank you. I am super excited to be part of this Academy this year and represent a university. It’s an honor to have been nominated, so the Leadership Academy is a program designed to develop and diversify leaders in higher education, specifically with leadership training, mentorship and opportunities for networking. And really the mission of populist an organization. As a champion Hispanic success in higher education by advocating for policies and programs that promote equity access and opportunity for Hispanics. So, since Kean is an HSI or Hispanic serving institution, it aligns. Very closely with the work that we do here.
Kevin Hogan
That’s great. And maybe you could tell us a little bit more about can you give us a perspective of where you are that the size of the school and the work that you’re doing there?
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
So we are a four year public university. We have a few different locations in New Jersey. Our main location is in Union. We have another location in Toms River. We also have a location in winter China. We serve roughly about 16,000 students in total. And again, I mentioned that with automatic offerings.
Kevin Hogan
And now the the cohort looks at all aspects of leadership but talk a little bit about your particular position. I know it has to do with and which is why you’re talking to eCampus news and not just a general education news I but talk a little bit about your work and data analytics and how that affects taint.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Absolutely. So my role is the associate Vice President of administration for our division of Strategic Analytics and data illumination, uh long title, but that we stated for short for that division and we’re unique in that. We have a division devoted to data analytics. So what we did about two years ago is we merged the offices of Institutional Research. Accreditation and assessment and institutional effectiveness under one umbrella and that really allows us to democratize data across campus and really allow for more access and also more training opportunities for the end users to ensure that they’re using data for decision making.
Kevin Hogan
Now data the just the phrase data can be a loaded word right? Especially amongst students, parents of students, sometimes faculty. Cybersecurity. Obviously being the number one, the topic that I see when talking to executives in the higher end space and the worries and the legitimate worries of being hacked and as well as how data is being used. Sounds like you’re waist deep into that talk a little bit about where you see the role of data being a positive a force in your environment and how you’re able to communicate that aspect to the to the wider community.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Sorry, so I think with the rapid pace of change in higher education, uh, whether it’s fluctuating student demographics or changing funding models or evolving workforce needs, institutions of higher industrial land, David estate, agile. So, I think strategic analytics helps us not only to tracking metrics like enrollment retention and graduation rates. But also, to gain deeper insights into student success patterns, resource allocation of program with blackness. So, we really are trying to translate the data into.
Kevin Hogan
And. And again, maybe part of the reason they were selected for the cohort is not necessarily about the technology side of things, but on the leadership side of things. So and I’ve seen more and more executives at your level and in your position. You’re as much of A diplomat as you are a technologist, right? I mean, you have to explain these aspects. To the wider community. Can you share with our readers and our listeners some of the strategies that that you have developed over the? Years.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Right. Yeah, I think that’s exactly it. I think in it and now and had that the leadership in this capacity requires not just the technical expertise, but really the strategic vision, collaboration and the ability to kind of create a unified narrative that informs the city makers. Across the university, so I think one thing that we’ve done is we’ve worked really hard to visualize our data and to make it more accessible, but also to make it. Uhm, I guess make it easier for the end user to translate for their particular needs. So I think that that’s one particular area really to make data meaningful to the stakeholders and also put it in the context. So oftentimes people see a spreadsheet or see data, but there’s no context provided. So we also try to lead with that narrative. We offer a lot of training. So we’re not a division that. Split that data, but we really tried to make them, you know, meaningful for the end.
Speaker
Right.
Kevin Hogan
And talk a little bit about those stakeholders. Have they changed, have they expanded, I mean who is using this data and and turning it into information and knowledge? For the for their own purposes.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Yeah, so it’s administrators, staff, faculty. When I first started here over six years ago, it was often. Difficult to access data and I think that’s common across the decades of higher education. But we have really worked hard to democratize it. In addition to the dashboards that we have generated and the data that we share across campus, we also have a data request form so that stakeholders to get a particular data set and also reach out to us and we can generate that to meet their particular.
Kevin Hogan
And uh talk a little bit as yourself as a leader when. You walk into your office in the morning. What? What are the top priorities that you see for for Kane in, in, in terms of your, your day-to-day? We’re talking big picture here, which is great, but then there’s also the realities of what you need to get done. You know, with boots on the grounds, talk a little bit about the the realities of a leadership position.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Absolutely. So I think in this division because we’re a unique blend of institutional research and accreditation and assessment, the the day-to-day kind of changes throughout the year. So right now we’re very much focused on our assessment cycle. So we work closely with the academic and administrative unit and set out helping them and develop assessment plan right now for this year. Focus on setting equity goals. That’s a project that our data also is supporting for this particular moment in time for pain and also working with the specialized programs on their reaccreditation as well as with the teaching reaccreditation.
Kevin Hogan
That’s that’s an interesting aspect because again, you hear about the strategy to develop equity. And then data ends. How do those work together? Can you can you give us a breakdown of, like what data you’re starting to collect to create? Are you creating patterns and enrollment or tendons or like, give us kind of a breakdown there where you go from zeros and ones to this kind of abstract idea of building equity?
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
So I think you know it’s not just the student have just number, but we’re trying to understand the story behind their reasons for potentially stopping out or their reasons for being successful. And so we are King University at the partner with new shopper equity, which is a partnership with EA B and we are looking to help those equity gaps across higher education by 20-30. So one thing that we’ve worked on in the past two years in partnership with California State University is we’ve created specific dashboards that visualize our equity gap setting. And the types of data plans we’re talking about, for example, are we’re looking at historically difficult courses. So those with a higher rate of Deese episode with all grades and we’re trying to see which particular student populations are most impacted by those forces or are we seeing a higher DFW rate for students from underrepresented minority populations as opposed to to not or higher representation. DW grades or Pell recipients of the post and non-boards. And so that’s some of the data we’re visualizing, but also in terms of employment retention and.
Kevin Hogan
That’s that’s a lot talk about some of your biggest challenges right now. I mean now that be just post. Pandemic I assume? Those introduced many sort of obstacles for you in your work day-to-day and big picture, but what are your what are your biggest concerns and and? How are you trying to tackle them?
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
So this this. Challenge in terms of the operations of our office at the institution, really again making sure that data is accessible and meaningful to all stakeholders. Oftentimes there’s a gap between those who generate the data and those who need to act on the data, so we might offer all of these dashboards, but at what point? Is there an analysis paralysis happening right? So at what point is the end user saying wow this? Is great. We have. Access to all of this, but what do we do now to act on it? So we’ve been intentionally meeting with Dean and administrative leaders again to set those goals. And help them identify how they can use the. Yeah, I mean.
Kevin Hogan
Yeah. Uh. So then on the flip side, what are some of your hopes? I mean, what are the opportunities that you see coming down the Pike over the next two years in, in terms of your strategies as a leader and your encouragement of other leaders on campus as a result of your work with the cohort?
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
So I mean, collaboration is essential to everything that we do. We see ourselves as partners to all of the units helping them use data to achieve their goals. So my hope is that we see more usage of the data in terms of decision making. For example, we work closely with enrollment management. Let’s say it’s one division example. We while enrollment trends, we forecast tuition revenue and so also we did that with academic departments to assess program outcomes and food student retention. So we’re really hopeful that with the, I would say the guidance of our office not just in providing the data, but in helping them. Use the data we can see we’re actually being taken in the next week.
Kevin Hogan
And finally for our listeners and our readers who are who have listened to this conversation and are inspired by a lot of your work both in the cohort as well as at Kane. What would be your suggestions for them in terms of they say, well, I want to take some of these next steps. I wanna take my leadership strategies to a next level. Any thoughts for them?
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
And in terms of leadership specifically?
Speaker
Or.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Even. I would say you know to create a culture where continuous learning is encouraged. I think you know of all the things that I’m proud of as a leader over the past few years here in this division, it’s not necessarily the work that we’ve done or that data that we’ve shared. But it’s in the team and how we cultivated our team to be cohesive and also to continue their own growth as leaders. So it’s most important to me and not something I would share because regardless of the area you work in, I think it’s really important to grow your team and to to make them excited and the off share accommodation.
Kevin Hogan
Well, terrific stuff. I really appreciate you taking the time to share some of those insights. Congratulations on your selection for the cohort and good luck going forward with Kane and and the words of.
Neva Lozada, Ed.D
Thanks so much, Steven. I appreciate it.
Kevin Hogan
And that’s all we have for this episode of Innovations in Education. Be sure to come back to ECampus News for more episodes and sign up and subscribe to our podcast on our monthly series. Also, be sure to check out the website. We’ve got plenty of resources that I think will help you in the execution of your job on campus. Once again, thanks for listening. This is
Kevin Hogan at eCampus News.
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