Monday, April 30, 2012
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Expectations: The President /Chief Enrollment Officer Relationship
(Enrollment Manager, April 2012 – by Scott D. Miller and Marylouise Fennell)
We’ve written before on
the critical topic of transformational presidential leadership. This column is devoted to the relationship
between the college president and the chief enrollment officer. Because enrollment is the single most
important revenue “driver” at most colleges and universities, the strength of that
relationship is critical to institutional success.
In dozens of consultancies
at diverse institutions, we’ve found that all have at least one thing in
common: a proactive president who demonstrates
commitment to a culture of recruitment and retention.
Keeping Your Eye on the
Prize
Urgency and continuity
of focus are critical, observes Dr. Joe Pace, a nationally-known specialist in
student retention and chairman of the board, PX2 Youth and Higher Education,
who also serves as program director, facilitator and speaker for The Pacific
Institute in Seattle, WA.
“What we almost always
find when we are retained by institutions with slipping recruitment and
retention is that the little things that make all the difference to students
have slipped through the cracks,” says Pace. He adds, “Just a small lapse in
attention to student needs and expectations can result in a critical slippage
in students.”
The President
Dr. James L. Fisher,
noted author and President-emeritus of the Council for the Advancement and
Support of Education, states, “A transformational leader can be likened to the
captain of a ship; others may steer the ship, but the captain must first chart
a clear vision.”
With changing student
and family demographics, eroding financial support from federal and state
governments and competition becoming ever more intense, visible and
entrepreneurial presidential leadership is essential.
The visible CEO challenges
the status quo, setting priorities while engaging the community and openly
linking enrollment to the financial health of the college. He or she leads the desired profile,
establishes an organizational structure to facilitate productivity, frames
issues and policy and pilots institutional strategies and approaches.
Moreover, the
transformative president must demonstrate a keen understanding that buildings,
grounds and technology are an integral component of strategic success. This is
especially true of health, fitness and athletic-related facilities and amenities:
NCAA statistics point out that student participation in varsity and junior
varsity teams nationally continues to rise at the rate of about 2 percent a
year. As our colleague Dr. Walter M. Bortz III, former president of
Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, states, “Ensuring that the campus has curb
appeal and is filled with first-class technology, faculty and facilities helps
to guarantee the necessary enrollment to keep the enterprise operational and
growing.”
Championing Enrollment
The president must
continually champion enrollment, engaging key leaders in the process while
allocating the resources needed to get the job done. Although vision is vital, attention to detail
is equally critical. Progress requires a
business approach and demands weekly reports from the chief enrollment officer.
These should include:
¨ An overall report that includes, but
is not limited to, contacts, inquiries, applications, completed applications,
acceptances and confirmations;
¨ Individual
reports for counselors and call-center personnel that includes volume
of contacts and conversions, and
¨
Financial aid reports including, but not limited to, pre-awards,
awards and acceptances. These three areas are the most crucial, and an
effective enrollment president always has command of this information.
The Chief Enrollment
Officer
The role of this key individual
has become increasingly complex, states Bethany College vice president Sven de
Jong, who has successfully implemented a model recommended by The Dysart Group
in 2007. After years of “roller coaster”
results at Bethany, the model has resulted in three of the College’s largest
classes in the past 30 years and the largest headcount in 35 years in 2011. This while also progressively improving the
profile of each incoming class.
“Increased competition
means that chief enrollment officers must be continuously scanning the
enrollment landscape, seeking new approaches and proactively recommending
strategic responses to new trends,” he adds. “New trends are pointing to an approach in
which enrollment resources must be simultaneously directed not only toward
bringing in next year’s class, but also focusing on high school sophomores and
juniors, increasing numbers of transfer students and connecting with them in
ways and on platforms prospective students expect in today’s highly technologically integrated society.”
Depending on the complexity
of the organization, this key campus leader might carry any one of a variety of
titles; those of vice president, dean or executive director are among the most
common. de Jong is Vice President for Institutional Advancement, with all
external affairs (including enrollment and fund raising) falling under his
supervision. A Director of Enrollment
reports directly to him. “It is imperative that he or she be an active
institutional spokesperson, a team builder and an accomplished motivator all
while holding the staff accountable,” de Jong noted.
Presidential
expectations for this individual include the setting of realistic goals and energetic,
ongoing participation in website and e-marketing (including social media), print
media, direct mail and the college’s first-year program. Further, he or she must understand the vital
role of research in analyzing trends, the pivotal role of marketing, the
volatile world of admissions and financial aid, the value of student orientation
and the necessity of retention and advising.
The enrollment manager must also demonstrate the “people” skills to
train and motivate the enrollment counselors who work in the field and those
who staff the call center.
Finally, the effective
chief enrollment officer must operate from a bottom-line perspective, focusing
on the objectives of each component reporting to this area. Combining these big-picture and
detail-oriented factors leads to a successful outcome, with the result
exceeding the sum of its parts.
# #
#
Dr. Scott D. Miller is
President of the College and M.M. Cochran Professor of Leadership Studies at
Bethany College in West Virginia. Now in his third college presidency, he
recently started his 22nd year as a college CEO.
Dr. Marylouise Fennell, RSM, a former president of Carlow University in
Pittsburgh, PA, is senior counsel for the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)
and principal of Hyatt-Fennell, a Higher Education Search Firm.
They have collaborated
on nine books, including “President to President: Views on Technology in
Higher Education” (2009) and “Presidential Perspectives: Economic Prosperity in
the Next Decade” (2011). Both serve as consultants to college presidents
and boards.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Springing Forward at Bethany
(The
President's Letter, April 2012)
An early spring has blessed our
beautiful mountaintop campus in Bethany. Beyond my campus window are daffodils, lush green grass, budding bushes and flowering
trees. Day by day, in the words of a
colleague, “the transformation is amazing and inspiring.”
Spring
term at Bethany fulfills the sense of promise and possibility that begins with
each new academic year. In addition to
Commencement, perhaps no event captures that spirit as meaningfully for the
entire institution as Founder’s Day. This year we welcomed back to campus as
our Convocation speaker noted historian and Johns Hopkins Scholar D. Duane
Cummins, who served as president of the College from 1988 until his retirement in
2002. Dr. Cummins’ remarks generated an appreciative response from faculty, students,
alumni and friends as he recalled the improbable survival of the College in the
darkest days of the Civil War.
“During
1861,” Dr. Cummins recounted, “students in large number began to leave Bethany.
Some went home, while most enlisted in the army. The student body was reduced to 38 and the
faculty to two. Only five degrees were
conferred in 1862, and enrollment soon fell again to 33.
“In
1863, on July 3, Commencement was held for four graduates. Only 10 trustees had
been able to make the trip. Common sense
suggested that they should simply close the doors of the College,” Dr. Cummins
continued.
On that
July 3, however, “with no other asset than the ideal of Bethany College,” Dr.
Cummins noted, “the trustees made a fateful decision. . . it is recorded in the
minutes, and the vote was unanimous that ‘The operation of the college will
continue in all respects.’”
As if
to validate the trustees’ decision, and entirely unknown to them, twin Union
victories that same week—at Gettysburg and Vicksburg—marked the turning point
of the war, while simultaneously “marking the turning point in the survival of
Bethany College,” Dr. Cummins concluded.
Enrollment that fall jumped 40 percent.
Decisive
leadership by Bethany College trustees in 1863 had saved the College. Today, this small liberal arts college
continues to embody the mission of our founder, while adapting its programs to
the needs of a global, knowledge-based economy.
The
mobility of our society is one of many aspects of contemporary life that would
likely have astounded our College’s early leaders, with student groups fanning out in every direction
during our recent spring break. Student-athletes traveled widely, with the golf
team to Myrtle Beach, softball to Clermont, Fla., and baseball to Ft. Pierce,
Fla. Puerto Rico was the destination of
Spanish Club members and advisors, who toured the El Yunque tropical forest, the
famed Bacardi rum factory, Rio Camuy Caves, Bioluminscent Bay and Luquillo
Beach, among other attractions.
German
Club members and advisors flew to Milan in two groups, touring various
attractions, museums and other sights there, with day trips to Venice, Verona
and the Italian Dolomites for skiing and sledding.
The
Economics and Business Clubs visited seven European countries, with stops in
cities including London, Brussels, Venice, Innsbruck, Paris and Dijon. Closer to home, Bethany students completed an
Alternative Spring Break in the Florida Everglades where they helped to remove invasive
species to rid the swamps of plants competing with the natural flora and fauna.
Students and advisors also participated in beach cleaning on sea turtle nesting
grounds.
The
Tri-Beta Biological Honorary Society, Alpha Phi Chapter, traveled to Boston
where they visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology, the New England Aquarium and the Boston Museum of
Science.
Some of
our brightest future Bethanians joined us March 24 for the 28th
annual Kalon Scholarship Luncheon. Emmy Award-winning TV producer Jhamal
K. Robinson, a 1998 Bethany alumnus who serves as head of production for Yahoo!
Studios in Los Angeles, was keynote speaker. The luncheon is part of the Kalon
Leadership Scholarship Competition, which recognizes incoming students who
possess special leadership potential. It
offers future students with exceptional promise an opportunity to be inspired
by successful alumni. One of many Bethany graduates who have achieved
excellence in their fields, Jhamal built on the base of knowledge and
experience that he received at Bethany, becoming one of the youngest, yet most
influential, producers in the television industry.
Another highlight of our year is
the Oreon E. Scott Lectures. The Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins launched the 57th
annual Scott Lectures, March 26-27, at Bethany’s Mountainside Conference
Center. Dr. Watkins currently serves as the general minister and president of
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. This
year’s event focused on “The Challenge of Being Church in the 21st
Century.”
Our campus will wind up the
spring term with Alumni Weekend, May 4-6, and Commencement Weekend, May
11-12. We invite
you to join us for these annual traditions.
As we
prepare to conclude another academic year, it is appropriate to echo the words
of Dr. Cummins: “Memory, heritage and a profound conviction about the value of
the Bethany College ideal have always undergirded Bethany’s courageous response
to every challenge it has faced.” May we
always continue to honor this firm foundation and the spirit of renewal that
attends springtime and the forward-looking activities of Bethanians.
# # #
Monday, April 2, 2012
Presidential Perspectives
(This month's issue of Presidential Perspectives, a presidential thought series, published by Scott D. Miller and Marylouise Fennell with support of Aramark Higher Education).
This month's chapter is titled "The Financial Benefits of Campus Sustainability."
This month's chapter is titled "The Financial Benefits of Campus Sustainability."
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