Workforce Development Insights: From Campus To Career, Using Data to Shape Institutional Strategy
Key Takeaways from Our Jan. 29 Coffee Break Webinar
Academic leaders are being asked to answer increasingly complex questions: How well are institutions preparing students for life after graduation? How do academic programs connect to regional and national workforce needs? And how can universities tell a clear, credible story about their role in economic and workforce development?
These questions were at the center of Academic Analytics’ recent webinar, Workforce Development Insights: From Campus to Career, presented in partnership with The Universities at Shady Grove (USG) and the University System of Maryland (USM), and moderated by Matthew Cooper. The conversation focused on how institutions can use faculty and program-level information to better understand career pathways, strengthen external partnerships, and inform institutional strategy.
From Mission to Impact: Why Workforce Development Has Become Central
The conversation opened with a recognition that workforce development is no longer a peripheral concern. For many institutions, it now sits squarely at the intersection of academic mission, public accountability, and community engagement.
Panelists from USG and USM discussed how expectations from policymakers, employers, boards, and the public have shifted. Institutions are increasingly asked to articulate how their academic strengths translate into real-world impact, whether that impact shows up as regional economic growth, community resilience, or graduates who are prepared to navigate complex careers over time.
Rather than framing workforce development as a transactional pipeline from classroom to job, speakers emphasized the importance of understanding it as a long-term, evolving relationship between faculty expertise, students, employers, and communities.
Learning From Practice: Insights From USG and USM
Throughout the discussion, leaders from The Universities at Shady Grove and the University System of Maryland shared practical examples of how alumni and workforce insight can inform institutional decision-making.
Panelists emphasized the value of looking beyond anecdotes to understand how graduates move through the workforce over time and how those patterns can shape academic planning, employer engagement, and program development.
Webinar panelists included:
Rudy Ruiz, Founding Director, READY Institute, The Universities at Shady Grove
Mary Lang, Chief Strategy Officer, The Universities at Shady Grove
Rose Jackson-Speiser, Manager of Institutional Research and Data Analytics, The Universities at Shady Grove
Chad Muntz, Associate Vice Chancellor for Decision Support & Chief Analytics & Insights Officer, University System of Maryland
Connecting Academic Strengths to Career Pathways
A key theme throughout the session was the challenge of making academic work legible to external audiences.
Faculty research, teaching, and service already contribute to workforce and economic outcomes, but those contributions are often difficult to see when data is siloed or framed narrowly. The webinar explored how institutions can better connect:
Academic programs and areas of scholarly expertise
Student learning experiences and applied opportunities
Employer needs and emerging industry trends
By organizing and contextualizing faculty and program information, institutions can begin to map clearer pathways from campus to career—pathways that reflect the full breadth of academic activity, not just a subset of outcomes.
Using Data to Inform, Not Oversimplify
Another central discussion point was the role of data in shaping workforce strategy.
Speakers cautioned against using data in ways that flatten the complexity of academic work or reduce institutional value to a single metric. Instead, they highlighted the importance of using well-curated, contextualized information to support informed conversations across campus.
When used thoughtfully, data can help institutions:
Identify areas of alignment between academic strengths and workforce demand
Surface opportunities for new or deeper employer partnerships
Support strategic planning at the program, college, and institutional levels
Communicate impact to external stakeholders in a credible, nuanced way
The emphasis throughout was on data as a decision-support tool, not a ranking mechanism or a judgment of individual performance.
Employer Engagement as a Two-Way Relationship
Building on these examples, the conversation also explored how institutions can strengthen relationships with employers.
Rather than viewing employers solely as end-users of graduates, speakers described the value of reciprocal partnerships. Employers can provide insight into evolving skill needs, applied learning opportunities, and regional trends, while institutions contribute deep disciplinary expertise, research capacity, and talent development.
Making these relationships visible and strategic requires institutions to understand where faculty expertise and academic programs already intersect with industry and community needs, and where there is room to grow.
Telling a Cohesive Institutional Story
A recurring challenge raised during the webinar was storytelling: how to bring together disparate activities into a coherent institutional narrative.
Participants discussed how institutions often struggle to answer seemingly simple questions, such as:
How does our academic portfolio support regional workforce priorities?
Where are our strongest connections to industry and community partners?
How do faculty contributions translate into student and societal outcomes?
By organizing faculty and program information in a way that is accessible and contextual, institutions can more clearly articulate their role in workforce development, both internally and externally.
Looking Ahead
The webinar concluded with a forward-looking discussion about how institutions can move from insight to action.
Workforce development strategies are most effective when they are grounded in institutional mission, informed by reliable data, and shaped through collaboration across academic and administrative units. As expectations continue to evolve, the ability to connect campus activity to career and community outcomes will remain a critical strategic capability.
Missed the webinar or want to revisit the discussion? Request a playback by emailing marketing@academicanalytics.com
