Faculty support and a team approach to learning was the recipe for success for Tom Zhang, who recently traded his title as student in the interdisciplinary Masters in Social Data Analysis program to institutional research analyst in the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Zhang was in the first group of 10 students to finish the 12-month program that began in September of 2011, and says an intense year of study has paid off in a very marketable skill set.

“The program is difficult but you learn the kind of things that will make you feel very confident in your abilities,” he says of the program, which was initiated as a collaborative effort of sociology, psychology, political science and social work. “What you learn is very practical and applicable and when you have finished you can feel that you really have something to offer to an employer.”

Sociology professor Reza Nakhaie, currently chair of the MASDA Advisory Committee, says the idea for the program was introduced by former dean of Arts and Social Sciences Cecil Houston following a call from Statistics Canada for programs to address the need for experts in quantitative data analysis. His colleague, sociology professor Bob Arnold, chair during Tom Zhang’s year in the program, points out that across the sponsoring departments, faculty had decades of combined experience in real world research and program evaluation.

“We knew it would be a lot of work to set up a new program, but we were sure it was worth it,” Arnold says.

Zhang, originally a computer programmer in the US, initially served as a dedicated tennis coach for his daughters following a move to Canada in 2005.

He wanted to make a career change after his daughters left home on tennis scholarships in 2011. “I thought it was then time for me to move on,” he says.

Following a discussion with Dr. Arnold, he decided to apply to the MASDA program because of the increased demand for skilled data analysts.

Zhang says his success is directly attributable to the help and support he received from Arnold and faculty and staff members Janice Drakich, Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale, Robyn Nease and Rose Zanutto.

“They would just spend so much time talking to us and helping us to improve,” Zhang said. “Dr. Arnold is amazing—he’s one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met in the field of statistics. Dr. Janice Drakich and Dr. Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale spent lots of office and non-office hours helping me improve my research methods and writing skills. They even gave me an opportunity to work on a real project and paid me.”

He says his time in the Office of Institutional Analysis under the tutelage of institutional analyst Robyn Nease gave him the confidence to apply for the UOIT job, to which he was directed by institutional analysis executive director Rosemary Zanutto. Professors Maticka, Drakich and Arnold even set up a session preparing him for the interview.

“Everyone is just so focused on helping students to learn and to find work, “Zhang says. “Overall academically and in terms of my career, they were all super helpful. I don’t know how I can ever express my appreciation for that.”