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/academics/affairs/planning-institutional-effectiveness

Institutional Effectiveness Team

Mission

The Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness (OPIE) supports Marywood University's mission by fostering a culture of continuous improvement, informed decision-making, and institutional accountability. Through collaborative planning, comprehensive assessment, and data-informed evaluation, OPIE ensures that academic and administrative initiatives align with the University's strategic goals. The Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Team (OPIE-T) is committed to enhancing institutional quality, institutional effectiveness studies for planning and accreditation purposes promoting student success, and advancing the University’s mission, OPIE helps empower individuals through education, justice, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. The Office reports directly to the University President.

Purpose

The Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness (OPIE) supports the fulfillment of the institution’s mission by capturing, assessing, and reporting strategic planning, assessment, and data-informed decision-making processes. The Office is committed to promoting a culture of continuous improvement and accountability through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of institutional data. OPIE ensures that planning and evaluation activities across the institution are integrated, evidence-based, and aligned with accreditation standards and strategic priorities. Through collaboration and transparency, OPIE advances institutional effectiveness, operational excellence, and the achievement of organizational goals.

Core Functions

» Strategic Planning: Reports on institution’s long-term goals, monitoring progress, and coordinating annual planning.
» Accreditation and Compliance: Confirms institutional, core and programmatic standards are met.
» Assessment: Preserves evidence of assessment of student learning outcomes and institutional performance.
» Institutional Research: Maintains gathered and analyzed data to support leadership, program reviews, and reports.
» Effectiveness and Improvement Initiatives: Utilizes analytics to recommend directions process improvements and resource optimization.

Structure and Staffing

A collaborative structure for (OPIE) emphasizes shared ownership of planning, assessment, and improvement processes across the institution. Instead of functioning as a purely top-down unit, this collaborative OPIE serves as both a facilitator and strategic partner, engaging leadership, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders in shaping institutional direction and evaluating performance.

OPIE Team (OPIE-T) Standing Partners

Academic Vice President and Dean, College of Health Sciences
Ms. Shelby Yeager

Academic Vice President and Dean, Reap College of Creative and Professional Studies
Mr. James Eckler

Academic Vice President for Faculty and Administration
Dr. Ann Cerminaro-Costanzi

Chair of the Institutional Review Board
Dr. Patrick Seffrin

Chief Academic Officer
Dr. Kristine Southard (interim)

Co-chairs of the Outcomes Assessment Committee
Dr. Kristine Southard and Dr. Jeffrey Kegolis

Director of Assessment
Ms. Amanda Avery

Director, Office of Institutional Research
Mr. Frank Falcone

Director, Center for Transformational Teaching and Learning
Dr. Helen Bittel

Middle States Accreditation Liaison Officer
Ms. Sheryl Lynn Sochoka

Director of Special Projects
Sister Mary Persico, IHM, Ed.D.

Vice President for the Student Experience
Dr. Jeffrey Kegolis

Marywood University is committed to the collaborative approach to planning and institutional effectiveness, ensuring that  meaningful assessment informs continuous improvement across all areas of the University. Effective outcomes are systematically directed, collected, and documented to demonstrate progress toward institutional goals.

Relative to the role of OPIE in institutional planning and effective outcomes is the annual assessment process that is supported by the Assessment Submission Policy, that ensures that all academic, co-curricular, non-academic, and operational assessments are intentionally aligned with the University’s strategic plan and are designed to measure established performance indicators and goals.

Through the work of the Outcomes Assessment Committee (OAC), co-chaired by the Interim CAO and the VP for Student Experience, all unit and program assessment reports are collected, reviewed, and analyzed to provide constructive feedback to each area. This process fosters accountability, transparency, and a culture of continuous improvement that strengthens the University’s mission and strategic priorities. The co-chairs of the OAC will oversee the assessment report repository.

OPIE reports directly to the President of Marywood University. This reporting line ensures that planning, assessment, and institutional research functions are fully integrated with executive decision-making and strategic governance.

Reporting to the President, OPIE:

  • Provides leadership-level insight into institutional performance, assessment results, and progress toward strategic goals.
  • Aligns institutional planning and assessment with presidential and board-level priorities.
  • Serves as a central liaison between the President’s Office, the University Planning Committee, and the Outcomes Assessment Committee (OAC).
  • Facilitates data-informed decision-making by ensuring that institutional data, reports, and strategic analyses support executive planning and policy development.

OPIE reports to the President on a quarterly basis. Its first charge will be to create an annual calendar of meetings and reports. Its second charge will be to develop a standard template for this report that will include a rating system for performance metrics.

A. Announce the office via official channels by February 6, 2026
B. Share the mission, key personnel, and services offered.
C. Convene the first meeting in Quarter 1: March 10, 2026

After the first year, review progress and refine:

  • The strategic framework and reporting tools.
  • Identify and reevaluate stakeholder engagement and feedback loops.
  • Refine OPIE team partners as needed.
  • Identify priorities based on outcomes.

Questions about OPIE? Contact

Kristine D Southard

Bio of Kristine D Southard
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