La Tarte selected as DAPIR vice provost

Allison La Tarte has been selected as the vice provost for Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

La Tarte, who has been at UW–Madison since 2014, had been the interim associate vice provost of DAPIR since January 2022. Before that, she served as the associate director of institutional research. She’ll move into the role on June 1, 2023.

The Office of Data Management and Analytics Services was added to the Academic Planning and Institutional Research in April 2022, creating the restructured DAPIR.

“I’m excited by the potential to serve permanently in this role, continuing the momentum of bringing these offices together to advance our data and analytics environment,” La Tarte says.

The office has a long-standing record of gathering and disseminating information to a variety of audiences, La Tarte says.

“Using data to inform policy decisions requires making reliable data available to the campus community and the public,” she said. “Having academic planning, institutional research, data governance and management together in one office allows us to more efficiently align academic and data processes and be deliberate in using data to enhance UW–Madison’s mission.”

La Tarte received a master’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Eastern Michigan University. Before coming to UW–Madison, she worked for the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau, performing program evaluations of state agencies and programs.

“Allison has provided strong and thoughtful leadership as interim director over the last 18 months, directing the merger of two complex units with strategically important responsibilities,” says Eric Wilcots, interim provost. “Her analytical skills and her ability to build collaborative relations will make DAPIR a strong contributor to UW–Madison’s excellence.”

Jocelyn Milner retired from the role of vice provost for academic affairs in summer 2022 after a career of more than three decades at UW–Madison.

The vice provost for data, academic planning and institutional research leads a team of 20 that supports strategic, academic and budgetary planning and decision-making for UW–Madison through analytics, including the presentation and distribution of institutional data, information, policy analyses, peer comparisons and projections of future trends.

The vice provost leads institution-wide data and analytic strategy, including the development and execution of data governance and architecture for institutional platforms for data analytics; collaborates with campus stakeholders to broaden common understanding of institutional data use and develop a plan to maintain and grow UW–Madison’s analytic and data capabilities; and serves as a key advisor to the provost on all matters related to academic governance, academic planning and analytics, including program creation, development and program review.