Image: McBee IHE graduates, students, and faculty gathered for a discussion of enrollment management on Friday, July 29 over lunch. Graduates Kelley Lips and Rebecca Sandidge led the conversation and provided an overview of the strategic place of enrollment management in higher education institutions. Lips and Sandidge noted that enrollment is a newer and broader term than admissions. While there are many models evolving on campuses across the country, enrollment management brings together several offices focused on financial affairs and student success with Admissions early in the process. Lips shared a definition of enrollment management by D.H. Kalsbeek, “A comprehensive approach to integrating all the University’s programs, practices, policies, and planning related to achieving the optimal recruitment, retention, and graduation of students.” Participants shared experiences on their campuses and units included under the umbrella of enrollment management and relationship with student affairs. These models varied from reporting lines under chief financial affairs officers to vice presidents for academic affairs and provosts. Blake Bedsole, who served four years as vice president for enrollment management at a medium-sized public university, commented on the real challenges facing leaders in these roles. “It’s still very much in flux as to what [enrollment management] means to different institutions,” said Bedsole. Lips commented on the importance of institutional support for success. “It’s important that the enrollment management model… supports open systems of communication and that it really be aligned with the mission, the vision, the culture, the priorities of the institution,” said Lips. Sandidge added that communication is a real factor in success. “There is a nuance … regardless of where you are … of asking the questions about the units and how they tie together and how they might impact the work that you do, that is a really important take-away.” The session, “What’s in a name and why it matters: enrollment vs. admissions,” was the first of our Graduate Zoomtables for this academic year. These conversations, held over Zoom, bring together alumni, students, and faculty with common interests to share on-the-ground experience and current research in higher education. View the recording: https://youtu.be/_p2oF3gKPVU Read Lips’ dissertation (Organizational Structure, Strategy, and Coupling of Enrollment Management Divisions, 2021) Type of News/Audience: Alumni
