New Director of Wittenberg’s M.S. in Analytics Program Named

Wittenberg University has named Brian Heath, Ph.D., an analytics and AI executive who has taught in the program for nearly a decade, director of its graduate program in analytics, effective Aug. 1, 2026. Heath will also serve as a professor of practice. He succeeds Ross Jackson, associate professor of business, who was named inaugural dean of Wittenberg's new School of Business, Policy, and Ethics.

"Dr. Heath's depth of understanding of the program, commitment to the liberal arts, and strategic vision make him uniquely qualified to advance the program into the next era of applied analytics," Jackson said. "Along with his significant, practical experience, Dr. Heath has conducted varied analyses, managed analytic teams in a variety of industries, and has published extensively on AI, organizational decision-making, and agent-based simulations. I am excited to work with him as he assumes this leadership position."

Heath has spent more than 15 years building and leading analytics functions in defense, healthcare, information technology, industrial manufacturing, nonprofits, and medical technology startups, as well as in organizations ranging from Fortune 20 enterprises to venture-backed startups. He has run a 45-person analytics organization serving a multibillion-dollar business segment and built organizational AI functions from the ground up, putting AI and analytics systems into everyday operational use. He is the author of two books and more than 30 peer-reviewed works spanning analytics practice, organizational theory, and the philosophy of modeling.

"Managers, students, and organizations are all asking the same question right now: 'what does analytics actually mean when the software and AI can run the analysis?'" Heath said. "This program has never been about just the tools. It's about learning to ask the right question, test the answer, and own the decision that follows. AI can do the technical lifting, but only for the person wise enough to direct it well. That is what a liberal arts education forms, and it's why this work matters more now than it ever has."

The program's design predates the AI era but points directly at what Heath describes. Its courses are organized around framing messy, ill-defined problems rather than executing procedures, and the year-long program ends with a capstone on a real problem that students present to a panel of faculty and industry professionals. The degree takes 12 months: online coursework paired with monthly three-day residencies on campus, with one cohort starting each August.

"I've taught in this program for nearly a decade, and I've come to care about it the way you care about something you helped build," Heath continued. "What I'm looking forward to most is watching students grow. There's a threshold a student crosses when analytics stops being something they run and becomes a way they think. You can't hand that to anyone. You can open the door and be there when they walk through it. That's the part of this work I care about most."

About the Master of Science in Analytics Program at Wittenberg:
Wittenberg's Master of Science in Analytics is a 12-month, cohort-based graduate program that prepares analytics professionals to direct AI-augmented analysis, audit it with real technical skill, and turn it into decisions organizations act on. Students complete three semesters combining online coursework with monthly three-day campus residencies in Springfield, Ohio, and finish with a year-long capstone project on a real, professionally relevant problem, presented to a panel of faculty and industry professionals. Applications for the August 2027 cohort are open now.