New Master’s Program Trains Social-Data Professionals

August 2, 2017 | Read Time: 1 minute

Charities often struggle to find data professionals who understand the nonprofit world. A new master’s program hopes to help change that.

This fall the University of Texas at Dallas is starting a Social Data Analytics and Research master’s program. The degree is designed to help people who want to work at nonprofits or in government learn a variety of skills, including quantitative and qualitative data analysis, social-data mining, evidence-based project design, and program evaluation.

“Organizations of all kinds collect massive amounts of data from clients and customers through websites and social media,” Simon Fass, associate professor of public policy and head of the new program, said in a written statement. “They need people who can sort through the information to solve problems and help them make decisions.”

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About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.