During fall 2019, in anticipation of Dr. Margarita Kokinova’s retirement last month, the Offices of the President, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Academic Services, along with the NEOMED Workforce Re-Engineering Committee, collaborated to reshape the Office of Institutional Research (IR) and transfer its location within the University’s organizational structure from the Division of the President to the Division of Academic Affairs.
Effective January 1, 2020, the following changes have occurred to provide staffing and continuation of services for IR:
Reporting to the vice president for academic affairs (VPAA), Deborah Loyet, M.S., M.A., was promoted to executive director of institutional research to provide direction and oversight for all facets of the office, including: design and implementation of institutional research studies related to accreditation, strategic planning and continuous quality improvement processes and initiatives; production of University accreditation projects and reports; University-wide data collection, analysis, and reporting; institutional external reporting; and survey administration. Loyet serves as the University Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and as the NEOMED liaison for the Ohio Higher Education Information (HEI) system. In this role, she is also accountable to the chief of staff and secretary to the Board of Trustees for University strategic plan projects and other presidential or Board of Trustees level initiatives.
Additionally, Loyet retains existing responsibilities in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs with a second title as executive director, administration and faculty affairs. She oversees systems, communications and workflows for faculty affairs administration, academic policy and faculty bylaws development and maintenance, faculty governance adherence, and new academic program approvals. On behalf of the VPAA, Loyet designs and implements project management for initiatives that span the University academic enterprise, including academic external reporting requirements and State of Ohio legislative mandates. She also works collaboratively with the VPAA to supervise operations and resource management for the Division of Academic Affairs.
Loyet has served as a professional staff member for various university and college executive leaders for more than 18 years and has extensive experience with faculty affairs and governance, program and institutional accreditation, and student affairs within public and private colleges and universities. She will maintain her current office location in room A-25 within the VPAA/College of Pharmacy Dean’s suite.
Reporting to the executive director of institutional research, Bob Larson, M.A., was promoted to director, institutional research and assessment with responsibilities for University-wide data collection, analysis, and reporting; survey administration, which includes course and faculty evaluations; development of curricular evaluation strategies and assessment tools, and implementation of evaluation techniques for University-wide continuous quality improvement initiatives, including institutional accreditation projects. Larson serves as the University “key holder” for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and as the institutional data coordinator for the annual HLC Institutional Update.
Larson has worked in the NEOMED Office of Academic Services since 2005, where he administered course and instructor evaluations for the University, provided technical support for NEOMED faculty and staff, and was instrumental in the construction of an online system for collecting clinical grades in the College of Medicine. After February 7, Bob’s office location will be in the Institutional Research Office suite in room A-107.
Reporting to the director of institutional research and assessment, Lorans Jones, M.Ed., retains his title as senior data specialist, managing operations and data related to online surveys, external reporting, accreditation projects, educational research and strategic planning. His duties include the creation of data displays and reports; development and reporting of institutional dashboard indicators; and the generation of standard reports. With the reorganization of the office, Jones will also take a leadership role in the development of course and instructor surveys and reports. Jones currently serves as one of NEOMED's three Qualtrics “brand administrators,” with Bob Larson and Sharon Combs, who are leading the transition from Verint to Qualtrics as the official campus survey software.
Jones has worked at NEOMED since 2008. He serves on the NEOMED HLC Technical Team that was instrumental in creating the University’s Assurance Argument of Compliance in 2017. He has contributed to research in preparation for the building of the campus apartments, the NEW Center, and the building space for the Wasson Center. He is located in the Office of Institutional Research suite in room A-106.
The Office of the VPAA has been a long-standing partner with Institutional Research in support of University accreditation, strategic planning, new academic program development, and academic project management. The change of reporting line for IR under the VPAA enables a closer alignment of staffing and resources and in this regard, Jordan Cinderich, M.Ed., coordinator, Office of the VPAA, will provide high level administrative support for processes and committees involving institutional departmental reviews, graduate program reviews, and University accreditation projects. Cinderich recently joined NEOMED in October and is located in the VPAA/College of Pharmacy Dean’s suite, A-23.
Please join me in congratulating these members of the Office of Institutional Research and, if you see them lying face down in the hall, be sure to encourage them to get back on their feet and keep going!
Richard Kasmer, Pharm.D., J.D.
Vice President for Academic Affairs