Alex Serpi
Tell us about your day-to-day work. What are your primary job responsibilities as an assessment and research analyst?
Sure. In my role, I support faculty, program coordinators, and administrators across the University to develop and execute plans to assess student learning in undergraduate and graduate programs and certificates and general education. I also assist in coordinating, administering, and analyzing University-wide assessments in institutional focus areas.
Can you share a bit about your educational and professional background and how you came to this position within OPAIR?
While it may not seem like a straight path, I earned my bachelor’s degree at Franklin & Marshall College and my doctoral degree in Biology here at Penn State. Before joining OPAIR, I worked as an IT project manager, studying how technology impacts teaching and learning. I also worked with Penn State faculty and administrators to assess programming, resources, and community sentiments. I’ve been a biotech analyst and R-1 researcher, where I developed my skills in process evaluation, regulatory compliance, and research design.
How did Biology pave the way to where you are now?
Biology is excellent training to see connections between seemingly different realms. For example, seeing fuzzy bumps on the back of a caterpillar and understanding that the plant the caterpillar was eating called for help from a wasp; the wasp lays its eggs inside the caterpillar, and the fuzzy bumps are actually the wasp’s babies. Biology also gave me a great foundation in gathering evidence, analyzing data, and communicating the results. I especially enjoy the use of creative data visualization in this way.
What are the correlations between your previous work assessing programming and resources and your position in OPAIR supporting the development and implementation of plans to assess student learning? How did the former influence the latter?
My background is in the liberal arts. In that philosophy, it’s really important to have a broad background with the goal of filling gaps between disciplines. I’d say my most basic skills are asking questions, finding the answers, and helping others understand the resulting information. In the past, I asked questions about plants and caterpillars; now, I ask questions about students and learning outcomes. Different nouns. Same skills.
Where did your love of data visualization come from?
I’ve always loved design: architecture, packaging design, urban planning, etc. Good design is really about clever communication. How do I enter the building? What does this beer taste like? As a result, when I need to communicate my research, it’s made sense that I use more visual methods. It started with posters at science fairs, and it’s grown into infographics, slide decks, and social media posts.
(Serpi recently presented the deep dive training session, “Baking a Cake: A seminar and workshop on Data Storytelling,” to help data scientists understand how data can be used for storytelling.)
What projects are you most excited about right now?
There are so many! In my first few weeks, I’ve assisted with academic administrative evaluation, been wrangling institutional data, and ensured our team’s work meets accessibility standards. I’m especially looking forward to supporting the Self-Study, the Community Survey, and the Values & Cultures Survey. And if you haven’t guessed it already, I’m always game to talk about data visualization!
What do you find to be the most rewarding part of your job? How did Penn State help make that happen?
I really enjoy the diversity of people I get to work with every day. It goes back to valuing a liberal education. I love to see how other people think and experience the work that we do. Different perspectives lead to more robust outcomes that are effective for more members of our community.
