Two green chairs with a short table between them, behind is a beige wall with an NMU Institutional Effectiveness sign board

Student Employment in I.E.

The Institutional Effectiveness office oversees and is involved with many university projects and processes, and our student coworkers assist with a variety of tasks. 

Check out what current and former students would like you to know about student employment in the I.E. office:

Basic Tasks

  1. Data cleaning and verification
  2. Data entry
  3. Transfer of data between programs, sites, and mediums

Software and Sites

  1. Excel and/or Google Sheets
  2. Adobe Creative Cloud software
  3. Drupal website maintenance

Benefits

  1. Flexible schedule to accommodate class and final exam schedules
  2. Opportunities to learn beneficial skills for personal and professional use
  3. "Great work environment with helpful staff"

Please see open Student Employment Positions in the Institutional Effectiveness office below:

Click here to view the position listed on Handshake.

Click here to view the position listed on the Graduate Studies Webpage (under Open Graduate Assistant Positions heading.)

 

Job description

Graduate Assistant — UP Post-Secondary Student Experience and Retention Survey Project Lead

One-Year Appointment (Academic Year 2026–27)

Please note: This position is contingent upon external funding that is currently being negotiated. We are posting the position now because we expect a quick turnaround once funding is approved.

Compensation

20 hours per week during each 16-week semester (Fall and Spring); 1-year appointment for AY 2026–27.

Stipend rate consistent with NMU's current Graduate Assistant stipend schedule 18.63/hr, plus the standard graduate tuition benefit of 16 credits hours for the academic year; appointment will also include a faculty/staff parking pass, a university issued laptop, 3 meal swipes a week, and access to the services NMU Health Center offers.

Basic Function and Responsibility

The Graduate Assistant supports NMU's Office of Institutional Effectiveness (NMU IE) in coordinating Year 1 of the UP-wide Post-Secondary Student Experience and Retention Survey — a multi-institution research initiative convened by InvestUP on behalf of participating Upper Peninsula higher education institutions. Year 1 scope includes IRB coordination, survey instrument refinement, population file management, survey deployment, outreach, incentive management, data collection, and institution-level and UP-wide reporting and presentation. The GA provides research coordination, data management, and communication support across these phases under the direction of the Assistant Provost and Director for Institutional Effectiveness and University Strategic Planning.

Characteristic Duties and Responsibilities

IRB & Survey Instrument Support — 25% (Fall, Weeks 3–9)

  • Prepare the Oversight Committee's pre-cycle meeting agenda and materials, including the draft question set and a documented item-revision log.
  • Support the Oversight Committee's review and finalization of the survey instrument — a required step before the IRB application can be submitted.
  • Assemble non-instrument IRB application materials (methodology, recruitment strategy, informed consent/confidentiality language), and support submission once the instrument is final.

Population File & Platform Coordination — 25% (Fall, Weeks 7–16)

  • Support the population file coordination including compiling, cleaning, and deduplicating files.
  • Assist with building and testing the survey platform; coordinate pilot testing logistics and incorporate feedback; develop promotional materials to support outreach.

Incentive Coordination & Outreach Preparation — 25% (Fall, Weeks 7–16)

  • Support in the execution of incentive procurement, distribution, and tracking logistics.
  • Finalize the multi-touch outreach campaign design ahead of Spring deployment.

Deployment, Data Collection & Reporting Support — 25% (Spring, all 16 weeks)

  • Assist with the launch of the survey and execute the multi-touch outreach campaign; monitor data collection, flag quality issues, and close the collection window.
  • Aggregate and clean de-identified response data.
  • Assist with the draft the UP-wide summary report, institution-level reports, and the UP-wide aggregate report for Director review.
  • Help prepare the findings-presentation slide deck and executive summary; support the Oversight Committee's preliminary findings review.
  • Help prepare project-tracker handoff documentation and support the Year 1 debrief with the Oversight Committee.

Supervision Received

From the Assistant Provost and Director for Institutional Effectiveness and University Strategic Planning.

Supervision Exercised

None.

Minimum Qualifications

  • Current NMU graduate student in good standing, preferably with coursework or interest in survey research methods, program evaluation, applied statistics, or a related social science field.
  • Familiarity with (or willingness to quickly learn) human subjects/IRB research protections.
  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; comfort managing multiple institutional stakeholders and deadlines simultaneously.
  • Proficiency with survey platforms (e.g., Qualtrics) and data management tools (e.g., Excel); familiarity with SPSS or R is a plus.
  • Strong written communication skills, including the ability to translate data findings into clear summaries for non-technical audiences.
  • Discretion in handling confidential and de-identified student data across multiple institutions
  • Be admitted to a master's level program without any conditions (graduate certificate and non-degree seeking students are not eligible for these positions)
  • Have a 3.0 GPA or higher in all graduate-level coursework

Preferred Qualifications

  • Preference will be given to students with a 3.5 GPA or higher
  • Preference will be given to 2nd year students since this is a one year appointment