Pennsylvania College of Technology has named two people to leadership positions in the Office of Assessment, Research and Planning.
The office provides official information, and quantitative and qualitative data, to the college's administration, the general college community and external entities. It also facilitates student outcomes assessment and measures institutional effectiveness.
Nasrin Fatima was named assistant vice president for assessment, research and planning. She began her duties on Jan. 11.
Brian L. Cygan was appointed director of institutional research. He began his duties on Jan. 4.
Fatima comes to Penn College from Xavier University of Louisiana, where she had been director of institutional effectiveness and assessment since January 2008.
Previously, she had been employed as a research consultant for Canchem Dealings Ltd., Fort Erie, Ontario; a data consultant for the Educational Policy Institute, Toronto; an adjunct faculty member at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario; an independent research consultant for the International Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project; and a graduate assistant in the Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundations at the University of New Orleans.
She holds both a Ph.D. and a Master of Education, with a concentration in higher education administration, from the University of New Orleans. Her professional affiliations include the American Educational Research Association, the Association for Institutional Research, the Association for the Study of Higher Education and Phi Delta Kappa. She has published and presented a number of scholarly papers.
Cygan comes to Penn College from Lock Haven University, where he had been director of institutional research since 2005. Previously, he was employed as assistant director of institutional research at Slippery Rock University; as a purchasing agent for Spang & Co., Butler; and as a cost analyst for Magnetics, East Butler.
He received a Master of Education, with an emphasis in higher education administration, from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Grove City College.
Cygan has completed Dale Carnegie Leadership training and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act training. He is a member of the Association for Institutional Leadership and was a steering committee member for Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year.
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