New Directors for Office of Strategic Insights

Please join the Office of Strategic Insights in welcoming our new director of data analytics, Dr. Mengmeng (Alexis) Chen, and director of continuous improvement, Dr. James Williams.

Dr. Alexis Chen has been working in higher education for more than ten years. She believes education is a passport to the future, because tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. Alexis is an expert in the field of data optimization, known for her research and publications in decision making, reinforcement learning and data science. She received her PhD degree in engineering with honors from University of Central Florida in 2018. In addition, Alexis has a bachelor’s in mathematics, a master’s in statistics and a second master’s in learning design sciences. Her last position was as a principal decision scientist at Volkswagen of North America. Alexis is a mother of two boys, and lives with her husband Sam Wang, her one-year-old dog and 12-year-old cat in Reston.

Dr. James Williams has served as an educator in higher education for more than 20 years. Throughout his professional career, he has supported adult learners in higher education in online, in-person and hybrid formats and has benefited from working within a number of different learning organizations. James has served as a former dean of faculty, program chair and director of assessment, as well as in other various leadership positions that have afforded him the opportunity to work with individuals from around the globe. Dr. Williams earned a bachelor of science degree in communications from Georgia Southern University, a master of science degree in counseling from Fort Valley State University and a doctor of education from Argosy University (Washington, D.C.). His research has focused on assessment of student learning best practices.

Dr. Chen and Dr. Williams look forward to collaborating with you to make a difference at NOVA. Please help us welcome them aboard! If you have any questions, please reach out to Sam Shi (xshi@nvcc.edu).

Submitted by:
Sam Shi, AVP of OSI, XShi@nvcc.edu