Richard Tucker will join UT in late November as the new assistant vice provost and director of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Tucker previously worked for Northwestern University's Graduate School as the director of research and analysis.  He was responsible for directing the design and implementation of an evidence-based approach to inform the Graduate School's decision-making and planning.  He also led Northwestern in the National Research Council's assessment of U.S. research doctoral programs. 

Richard Tucker is well-qualified for the position and comes with a wealth of ideas on how we can improve our data collection, analysis and presentation. Robert Holub, UT's Provost
 

Before receiving his current title at UT, Tucker was the associate director of assessment and evaluation for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.  Tucker will report to Provost Robert Holub and will lead efforts to collect, analyze and disseminate essential information about the university's environment and performance.

"Richard Tucker is well-qualified for the position and comes with a wealth of ideas on how we can improve our data collection, analysis and presentation," Holub said. "His experience with THEC should serve him extremely well in preparing external reports for higher education authority in the state."

As the director of OIRA, Tucker is responsible for producing a variety of data-based reports on topics such as retention and diversity to support institutional management, and strategic planning and policy formation.

Tucker earned his master's degree in political science at Pennsylvania State University. He was a Harvard-MIT Data Center Research Fellow for several years and was involved with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies.  He also served as a faculty member at Vanderbilt University and taught several courses in international relations, quantitative methods and formal modeling.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Davis, UT media relations.