Dr. Kendra Thompson-Dyck serves as Director for the Office of Assessment & Research and is a Research Affiliate of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW) at the University of Arizona. Her work supports institution-wide data collection and assessment to improve undergraduate student experiences and outcomes. 

Kendra's diverse portfolio includes applied and scholarly research funded by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Department of Education. As a proud first-generation student from a small northern Idaho town, Kendra now fully embraces the Sonoran desert as home.  

Dr. Ned Tilbrook is Data Analyst in the Office of Assessment and Research.  He received his PhD from the Department of Sociology at Portland State University in Spring 2024, where he also received his Masters in 2020. His dissertation research uses nationally representative data to examine social reproduction in higher education, in particular the experiences of first-generation college students and qualitative stratification by college major with a focus on STEM. He has also researched college graduate underemployment using qualitative interviews and food access in Portland using GIS methods. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and published in Social Science Research, Sociology of Education, and Socius.

Dr. Elisa Sperandio serves as Manager of Training and Project Development in the Office of Assessment and Research. In Spring 2024, she received her PhD from the School of Geography, Development, and Environment at the University of Arizona. Her dissertation, based on ethnographic work conducted in Bologna and Torino, considers how Italian cities engage civil society in migrant reception and the production of urban welcome. Her research has been funded by the Social Science Research Council.

Originally from the hilly northeastern Italian town of Conegliano, Elisa arrived in the US in 2013, as a first-generation student and an international student. With a background in qualitative research and teaching, Elisa's work in A&R includes curating professional development offerings and supporting consultations with campus partners.