About Us

Dr. Ansar Ahmed is the Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, DC.  He joined UDC on December 1, 2010.  Dr. Ahmed, a member of the Provost’s Office, in addition to other responsibilities, has also been assigned to be in charge of the IRAP Office.

He is a Sociologist by training, and has a Ph.D. from the University of Akron, Ohio.  He received his Master’s from the University of Akron as well, and his Undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. 

Dr. Ahmed has served in several capacities throughout his professional career , starting out as a professor and a researcher, and in more recent years, working in university administration.  Prior to assuming the position at UDC, he was the Associate Dean for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.  Before that, he was Professor and Sociology Department Chair at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.

As a tactical and strategic manager in university administration, Dr. Ahmed is involved in program assessment and evaluation, monitoring academic standards, curricular development, enrollment management and retention efforts, and in coordinating and resolving competing needs within the institution.  In his role as Associate Provost, Dr. Ahmed is responsible for planning, managing, overseeing, and directing the University’s institutional research and institutional effectiveness agenda.  

As a professor, he taught courses in research methodology, applied sociological research, social inequalities, and global issues.  His research is focused on community development issues, with a specific concentration on gender empowerment and human development.  More recently, he has been looking at the relationships between dysfunctional factors (like corruption) and how it impacts human development.  He has also done research in the areas of academic issues and challenges.

Dr. Ahmed has won the Strosacker Award for Teaching Excellence at Baldwin-Wallace College, and recognized by Ohio Magazine with an Excellence in Education award.  He has presented his research in several international conferences, and has publications in academic journals and edited books.  Dr. Ahmed has a collaborative leadership style and believes in teamwork as the primary mechanism for solution to challenges. 

Dr. David Caruth came to the University of the District of Columbia in 2006 with more than twenty years of higher education experience to rebuild the office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning. Prior to joining UDC, Dr. Caruth served as the Executive Director and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the National Center for Professional Development Solutions, in Denver Colorado, where he oversaw Center operations, hired and supervised faculty and staff, developed and gained approval for all academic courses, and taught graduate level courses in Instructional Technology, Diversity & Motivation, and Grant Writing. 

He is also a former Director of State Regulatory Affairs, Programs & Policy for Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was directly responsible for Lesley’s national state authorization and program approval efforts in 17 states including: Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Dr. Caruth worked directly with school Deans and Program Chairs to develop specialized curricula, and gained approval for new courses from state higher education commissions and regional accreditation bodies. 

Dr. Caruth is an experienced college professor having taught Research Methods for Non-profit Organizations at Regis University and Action Research at Lesley University, both at the graduate level, as well as undergraduate courses at the University of Wyoming, and The Metropolitan State College of Denver where he served as a fulltime faculty in the African American Studies department.

As President of the Caruth-O’Leary Research Institute, he wrote several million dollars in grants for clients, effectively developed and evaluated programs, and authored reports that were received favorably by the U.S. Government for many years. Dr. Caruth holds a B.A. in Political Science, a Masters degree in Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Adult Learning & Technology.

Gashaw Mekkonnen serves as the Senior Operational Research Analyst for the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning. He received his B.A degree in Sociology and Social Administration in1990 and Masters of Science degree in Demography in 1996, both from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.  He worked at various capacities for different Colleges and Universities.  He was a lecturer and researcher in the Demographic Training and Research Center of Addis Ababa University from January 2001 to March 2005; and served as the coordinator of the Center for two years.  He served as lecturer of sociology and also registrar at the Defense College of Health Sciences in Ethiopia nearly for 3 years (06/1998 to 12/2000).  He worked for the Jimma Institute of Health Sciences (now named Jimma University) for more than eight years offering various courses and participating in many community based research undertakings. He carried out a number of quantitative and qualitative research projects, provided technical advisory/consultancy and training services to different stakeholders. Recently, He worked as part-time research assistant for the Office of Research and Evaluation at the City Colleges of Chicago, where he got great exposure to Institutional Research at Higher Learning Institutions.

Diane Dickerson-Hayes has worked at the University of the District of Columbia in the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning as an operations research analyst for the past 32 years.  Her programmatic and operational specialties have been in the areas of compiling and analyzing student demographics and in the overall management of the University’s statistical information, materials, and documents.  Mrs. Hayes holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology/ Anthropology and a Master’s Degree in Adult Education at the University of the District of Columbia.  She has acquired additional continuing education training at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School, as well as attended a great number of professional education-related workshops and seminars throughout her work career.  Technologically proficient, She has acquired a host of computer skills, including the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Web Focus and SPSS Software.

Latresa Stewart serves as Office Manager for the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning. She manages the daily operations and is the first point of contact for internal and external constituents. Prior to working for the University of the District of Columbia, she was an Account Manager from 2004 to 2006 for the American Psychological Association Publications and Communications Department. She began her career at APA in 2003 in the Education Directorate as the administrative coordinator for The Center for Gifted Education Policy and The Other 3 Rs: Reasoning, Resilience, and Responsibility Initiative. She worked for Spherion from 2000 to 2003 as an Office Assistant.  Ms. Stewart received her Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Hampton University in 2002.