Vice Provost for Institutional Research and Analytics
Ratna Sarkar has been the vice provost for institutional research and analytics since January 4, 2016. The office of institutional research and Analytics gathers and analyzes data to inform and support the university’s strategic initiatives and decision making and to fulfill a wide array of institutional reporting requirements.
Dr. Sarkar previously led Rice University’s Office of Institutional Research, where she strengthened the school’s institutional research program to provide data and information more reliably and efficiently to university stakeholders. Among other contributions, she and her team identified patterns and inflection points in the spectrum of undergraduate life at Rice that aided the university’s efforts to improve graduation rates and other undergraduate outcomes.
Prior to her work in institutional research, Dr. Sarkar, who is trained as an engineer, was associate dean for global initiatives in Rice’s School of Engineering, where she developed pathways for international experiences and enhanced professional education programs. She also was a lecturer at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Sarkar earned her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and an MS in Computer Science, an MBA, and a PhD in business management from Stanford University. She has served as a consultant at McKinsey and Co., and was an assistant professor and research fellow at the Harvard Business School.