Arun Chandran Natarajan will join the Office of the Provost as the associate provost for institutional research and effectiveness. Natarajan comes to Rice from Johns Hopkins University, where he was the assistant vice provost for institutional research. He will assume his new role July 1.
Natarajan has nearly 20 years of combined experience in institutional research and business intelligence, and will provide strategic leadership and vision to develop a culture of analytical, data-driven decision-making across the university. He will play an integral role in building a network of data science experts across campus, creating a data warehouse, spearheading data sharing across the university and overseeing external reporting obligations. Under Natarajan’s leadership, the office will also oversee the university accreditation process.
“Arun is a results-driven leader, an exceptional motivator and a communicator who fosters unity among staff at all levels, inspiring his team to work toward a common goal,” said Howard Hughes Provost Amy Dittmar. “I am confident Arun will be a valuable addition to Rice and excited to work with him as we utilize the power of data and analysis to guide and implement Rice’s strategic plan and vision.”
At Johns Hopkins, Natarajan designed and developed a centralized institutional research database for compliance reporting and responding to university-wide queries. He collaborated on producing diversity reports, publishing doctoral program statistics, transforming the OIR website, analyzing master’s student debt, creating an annual recurrent research expenditure dashboard, benchmarking faculty salaries and evaluating individual doctoral programs. He launched and analyzed the results of key surveys, collaborating with multiple offices such as the Office of Institutional Equity, the Office of Graduate Education and Human Resources. Through these efforts, Natarajan developed a collaborative culture and utilized data analytics to strategically guide the university’s mission.
Natarajan began at Johns Hopkins since 2011 as a software engineer/senior programmer/analyst and was promoted to director of institutional research/IT director (analytics) in 2016. He served in that role until he was promoted to assistant vice provost of institutional research in January 2022. Natarajan previously served as business intelligence manager/developer for Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois, and as an independent consultant providing business intelligence/data warehouse solutions.
He earned his Bachelor of Science from Bharathiar University in India, Master of Science in electrical engineering with a concentration in computer engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology and Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins.