Biography
Throughout my career, I’ve worn many hats: sociologist, peer-reviewed journal author, evaluation researcher, data literacy leader, invited speaker, collaborator, presenter, instructor, data governance manager, steering committee lead, mentor, and guide. Data analysis and data governance, communication and relationship building, and higher ed are at the core of these roles. Access to higher education greatly transformed my worldview, supported my creative and analytic sides, and deepened my ability to problem-solve. At Harvard and MIT, I used data to answer leaders’ questions about academic programs and provide next-step recommendations. At Georgia State University, I support university leaders, data analysts, and data users in making decisions that affect the university, and the next generation, by ensuring our data that are known, accessible, trustworthy, and secure, as well as facilitating conversations across the university and training users how to handle data. Understanding data and harnessing it to advance the university is a truly collaborative effort - business units, IT, and institutional research/analysts - and I bring those together so we can determine how we might best do so.
In my personal time, I thoroughly enjoy a good fiction book, playing the piano, writing, and trying out the latest restaurants highlighted in Eater.
EDUCAUSE Publications
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Data governance is foundational to institutional decision-making, digital transformation, and more. In this episode, hosts Sophie and Nicole talk with George Firican from the University of British Columbia and Melissa Barnett from Georgia State University about strategies for building a data-oriented culture in the higher education context.
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If digital transformation is enabled by data and analytics and if data and analytics requires data governance, you can’t have digital transformation without data governance.
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Nine questions can help demystify organizational culture, making it an ally in data governance initiatives.