SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley recently announced the appointment of Deborah (“Debbie”) Furlong, Ph.D., as the college’s director of Institutional Research and Assessment, effective July 30, 2018.
Furlong will be responsible for providing leadership, direction, general supervision and evaluation of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. Reporting to the president, Furlong will plan, organize, control and direct operations and activities involved in the research, review, analysis, interpretation and reporting of data and information used in assessing institutional effectiveness, student success, enrollment and strategic planning. In this key role, she will assist in college planning, accreditation, and provide data analysis regarding SUNY Oswego practices, policies, measures and procedures.
Furlong has more than two decades of experience maintaining and analyzing institutional data resources. “Her work in higher education to provide analysis and data support has prepared her well to make immediate contributions at SUNY Oswego,” said SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley. “We look forward to her insight and vision in helping the college make better use of available data and fully incorporate the analysis of such data in our strategic decision-making.”
Furlong most recently served as the planning and business development coordinator for Oswego Health, where she worked with several databases to evaluate the current financial health of the organization’s services lines and emerging opportunities. Before that she was director of institutional research at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay – a position she held for 22 years – where she has served as a member of the faculty, teaching courses in social science statistics, business statistics, computer applications, political science and international relations. She also participated as a summer institute faculty member for the Association for Institutional Research Foundations for the Practice of Institutional Research. Earlier in her career, she was a research analyst, adjunct instructor, and associate director of a social science research lab at American University in Washington, D.C.
“I am honored by my selection as Oswego’s director of institutional research and eager to carry out the position's data, research, analytical and communications-related requirements,” said Furlong. “I am excited about where institutional research, as an industry and at SUNY Oswego, is heading.”
Furlong received her doctorate degree in international relations from the American University School of International Service, and a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Butler University.