Mike Nguyen has led Olin’s institutional research & decision support efforts since the fall of 2023. We recently chatted with him to learn more about his background, favorite superhero, and more!
Q: Share a little bit about your background and how you came to be at Olin.
A: I am a Southern Californian native who has spent nearly the last two decades in Utah where I completed my bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology from Weber State University. I worked at Weber’s Institutional Research office during my undergrad and after graduation. I then left higher education for healthcare where I spent 8+ years in analytics, the bulk of the time working in continuing medical education. During that period, I completed my master’s degree in quantitative psychology from Ball State University. The global pandemic had quite an effect on me: I didn’t want to keep working in healthcare, and I wanted to go back to work in higher education. I found an assistant director of research and surveys role at a local community college. While I loved returning to institutional research at the community college, my husband and I still wanted to seek out our next adventure. We decided to find jobs in New England, a place neither of us had ever been before, and find a new home that would be close to the ocean, a stipulation I insisted on after being landlocked for so long. I felt like I was Moana, and the sea was calling me.
Q: What should the Olin community know about Institutional Research & Decision Support?
A: As the director of institutional research and decision support, I oversee the collection, analysis, and reporting of data to support decision-making, planning, and policy formation at Olin. I look at student demographics, enrollment trends, academic performance, and metrics, including retention and graduation rates. I prepare reports for internal (e.g., cabinet, board) and external stakeholders (e.g., accrediting bodies, federal government). I source my data from various institutional surveys and our very own data warehouse.
Though institutional research and decision support seem to be heavily data-focused, I am also interested in what I call non-traditional metrics. Olin has a fantastic retention rate and graduation rate, but there are other areas where we can be successful and improve, like how well we build a sense of belonging and community, create accessible higher education in every sense of the word, and increase student engagement and satisfaction. I am also happy to partner with faculty and students on their research projects.
Q: You are also currently a PhD student in Education Sciences. Tell us about what you’re researching/studying!
A: I am a proud University of Kentucky Wildcat who has been working on my PhD in Education Sciences for the past few years. Despite being an online program, the cohort experience with online classes closely mirrors a traditional in-person experience. More importantly, I have a wonderful cohort of colleagues and a department that is invested in my success and supports my interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Since my program is focused on educational leadership, my research interests also include exploring novel ways in which schools can push back against the attacks and outright bans against DEI that are cropping up throughout the country.
Q: How did you decide to focus on using comic books in the classroom to teach diversity, equity, and inclusion? Why is this area important to you?
A: DEI was always meant to be a way to fight against the pervasive and systemic inequities that are prevalent throughout all aspects of our society. From an educational standpoint, DEI could help students learn cultural competence, develop social empathy, and accept individuals from different backgrounds. I am interested in DEI because I think it is a sorely needed panacea for the division we have in the country right now. I wasn’t planning on researching comic books and DEI until a professor was meeting with me on Zoom and commented on a plastic Captain America shield I had on my shelf in the background. He shared that as a white kid in the Deep South, Spider-Man was his gateway to Faulkner, and when you grow up, and Spider-Man and the X-Men are your heroes, and they are persecuted for who they are, it changes how you see the world and the people in it. It’s not subtle that the X-Men are the perfect civil rights analogs. I am curious to explore whether there is a relationship between superhero comic book consumption and someone’s attitudes and beliefs towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Q: What do you like to do for fun and/or in your free time outside of Olin?
A: Outside of Olin, my husband and I enjoy exploring the touristy sites in our new home state and trying all the delicious seafood. I have a list of places to try or visit that continuously grows—send me your suggestions! We are the proud parents of Oscar, a mini-Aussie heeler mix, and Molly, a heeler Shetland sheepdog mix, and enjoy taking them on adventures with us. I am recently learning to swim as an adult and have attempted to learn kayaking since moving here. Depending on how busy I am with school outside of work, I like to play indoor volleyball and have been playing the sport for over 25 years. I used to be a high school boys’ volleyball coach during my free time and would love to return to coaching on the side in the future. I also love cooking, and you can find me smoking pork ribs or baking sourdough from my Utah-borne starter on the weekends.
Q: Oliners can ask me about…?
A: Oliners can always stop by my office to talk shop about anything from research methods, exploratory factor analysis using small sample sizes, SQL, survey design, or my favorite Excel formula, VLOOKUP. Oliners can also stop by anytime to talk about their favorite superhero and why I think it should be Captain America, the feasibility of starting a comic book club here at Olin, why Back to the Future is the greatest film of all time, why the Pirates of Caribbean attraction at Disneyland is superior to the one at Disneyworld, and why the 5-1 offense is superior to 6-2.
Q: Oliners can teach me about…?
A: I would love to hear about your experience at Olin and what made you decide to come to Olin. I want to hear about what motivates you to complete surveys. I want to know what you plan to do when you graduate. I want to know what Engineering for Everyone means to you!
