Dvora Courtland
Senior Research Analyst
Office of Institutional Effectiveness
My family moved to Goochland when I was very young. My parents were hired to caretake/manage a working cattle farm, as my dad's family had been in farming for generations and my mom was a veterinarian. I grew up there in the old farmhouse, helped with farm chores, and attended the county schools.
What brought you to Reynolds?
I took my first college class at Reynolds when I was still in high school, before attending VCU. I also completed the ASL program at Reynolds and transferred those credits back to VCU to fulfill my 'foreign' language requirement. (Note: That was a looong time ago, and I'm very out of practice!)
What were you doing before coming to Reynolds?
I ended up worked for VCU for about 15 years in various roles, including managing a sizeable international student partnership program for the School of Business. After I earned my degree in data analytics, I spent some time doing population forecasting and analyzing member enrollment data for a couple of different state agencies.
Tell us about your work as a Senior Research Analyst at the college.
It's been a great experience; I enjoy being back with an educational institution and working with the team and leadership to help make our data more accessible for the college.
Were you always drawn to data and analytics?
Sort of - my first goal had been to be a psychologist/counselor, and I thought that field was going teach me the mysteries of human behavior. What I learned instead is that it is very difficult to reliably predict/understand individual behavior, but that we CAN somewhat reliably predict behaviors when you look at larger groups or population level trends. That is what led me into data and analytics.
Also it turns out that I'm a rather shy introvert, and maybe spending all day talking to people wasn't the best career choice. I don't know why I didn't notice that earlier, maybe because I grew up talking mostly to the cows on that farm. I'm delighted to report that I can be much more effectively helpful from behind a computer screen!
What is your favorite activity outside of work?
I enjoy creative pursuits including dance, making ceramics/pottery, and hand sewing/embroidered mending.
What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show?
My family loves The Great Pottery Throwdown, The Great British Sewing Bee, and The Great British Bake Off. They're such good comfort shows - all very upbeat and full of friendly (!) competition.
If you won $100 million in the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Good grief, who knows. Maybe I'd move the family to a small farm with a workshop, some chickens, and a goat or two. Or maybe I'd break down and finally get the youngest kid a gaming computer - I hear they cost about that much.
