Brandy Mendoza, a data analyst, has been named employee of the fourth quarter by the U of A Global Campus. Mendoza's co-workers recognized her for her insightful analysis of online student data, which guides student success initiatives.

"A big part of my work is analyzing what drives student success and predicting how many seats will be needed for future courses," Mendoza said. "I turn complex data into clear, useful insights that help improve programs and support students. I'm also the go-to person when quick reports or fast analysis are needed. Even if the results aren't what we hoped for, the process still teaches us something. Staying patient and positive helps us find the right answers in the data."

Mendoza serves on the Innovation and Online Student Experience team and has worked at the Global Campus since November 2021. Her typical job duties include working with student data to identify trends in enrollment, academic performance and student retention.

She tracks student performance, the number of times students attempt to retake certain courses and other enrollment measures over time. Her analysis empowers the Global Campus and academic colleges to develop strategies to help online students be successful. For example, Mendoza helped Global Campus coaches understand how to analyze the data to improve student support.

"I personally appreciated her efforts and am grateful for the work that she does on a day-to-day basis," said one co-worker who nominated Mendoza for the award.

Patty Milner is the assistant vice provost for Innovation and Online Student Experience and Medoza's supervisor.

"We know we can count on Brandy to help us better understand our online students and identify areas where we may need to step in to help them be successful," Milner said. "Brandy's detailed, meticulous approach to the data analysis often reveals insights that help guide our student success strategies."

The Global Campus awards the employee of the quarter to recognize outstanding achievements and accomplishments that relate to the unit's goals and the U of A mission. The award recipient receives a commemorative certificate and a monetary award. The four quarterly awardees may then be eligible to become the Global Campus Employee of the Year.

Other fourth quarter nominees include:

• Noel Sharif, data analyst, Innovation and Online Student Experience team
• Randy Forst, online student orientation specialist, Online Student Coaches team

The Global Campus supports the U of A academic colleges and schools in the development and delivery of online degree programs and workforce development programs. This unit provides instructional design services, learning technology support, media production services and assistance with financial administration, recruitment and marketing.

The Global Campus also supports the W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship, which is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying in online degree programs.