Vice President for Enrollment Management

Southwestern College, located in the southern edge of the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas, invites inquiries, nominations and applications for the position of Vice President for Enrollment. Southwestern (sckans.edu) is a small liberal arts college poised for meaningful growth. The successful candidate for Vice President for Enrollment Management at Southwestern College will be a compelling leader and will exhibit an ability to represent the college in external communities while building strong internal relationships. The person selected for this position will have a breadth of experience and will demonstrate proven results in recruitment and marketing strategy.

Attentive to mission, building on strength, and eager for additional initiatives, Southwestern College seeks a Vice President for Enrollment with vision and energy, who is entrepreneurially inclined and committed to quality. SC has been reenergized by the leadership of President Brad Andrews and is experiencing a real and exciting emergence of momentum. This renaissance is centered on engaging the love, identity and strengths of Southwestern College.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT JOB DESCRIPTION

The Vice President for Enrollment Management leads the work of the college to recruit and enroll well-qualified undergraduate and graduate students for the college’s main campus academic programs. The Vice President for Enrollment Management maintains key collaborative relationships with financial aid, registrar, chief academic officer, the vice president for student success, faculty, and activity directors. This includes implementation of, in collaboration with appropriate stakeholders, tuition rates, organizational and educational partnerships, budget development and administration, marketing, and recruiting processes.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Operational

• Provide counsel to the President, Executive Vice President, and members of the Administrative Council and Board of Trustees concerning the evolving educational needs of students.  

• Effectively supervises the admission staff.
• Manages the Admission Office budget and advocates for resources to support student recruitment.

Planning and Execution

• In full partnership with the Executive Vice President, develops and implements annual and long-range student recruitment plans, including marketing, branding, communication, and application and yield strategies.
• Develops and implements a plan to recruit for retention, developing and helping to promulgate and enforce standards concerning admission, conditional admission, etc.
• Develops, reviews, and annually implements a territory management program for deployment of admission office staff.
• Develops, reviews, and annually implements a transfer sender school management program for community and technical college for deployment of admission office staff.
• Develops, reviews, and annually implements a program liaison management program linking college programs with specific members of the admission office staff.
• Develops, reviews, and annually implements a program for recruitment of international students.
• Develops, reviews, and annually implements marketing and recruitment plans for main campus graduate programs, and provides assistance for main campus graduate programs in teacher education for which marketing and recruitment are executed by Professional Studies staff.
• Develops, implements, and annually reviews main campus admission policies and procedures to ensure timely and efficient processing of admission applications, effective communication and enforcement of admission standards, proper protection of confidentiality, and compliance with records management standards.
• Works collaboratively with the Executive Vice President and Director of Financial Aid to annually develop, implement, and review financial aid strategies that support admission goals while responsibly allocating college financial resources.
• Ensure college policies are being enforced by having a thorough knowledge of all academic and operational policies
• Works with campus offices and personnel to implement early course selection and new student orientation programs.

Key Cooperative Relationships

• Develops each year a written branding, communication, and marketing plan in cooperation with the Vice President for Communications.
• Develops each year, with the Chief Academic Officer, a written plan with agreed goals for fostering development of articulation agreements with sender schools.
• Develops each year, with the Vice President for Student Life, a plan for effective orientation of freshmen and transfer students.

Environmental Scanning

• Brings to the attention of the president and others opportunities for enrollment growth through changed policies, development/discontinuation of academic programs, etc.
• Regularly benchmarks and reports on marketing and recruitment practices at other colleges and universities  

Skills and Qualifications

• Master’s degree required
• Successful admission, administrative, and marketing experience at a college or university at a level of director of admission or above.
• Understanding of strategic planning and market-needs analysis related to higher education

• Experience in providing leadership within a dynamic recruitment and retention program with strong emphasis on enrollment growth
• Strong management and collaborative skills with an ability to work well with a variety of people sometimes in stressful situations
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams in solving complex problems, setting priorities, and implementing programs.
• Demonstrated experience in financial aid, marketing and college admission strategies
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and lead the work of multiple departments in the support of institutional goals
• Experience or background working effectively with campus support offices
• Strong knowledge of information systems and web-based recruitment strategies
• Excellent computer skills including the use of software within the Microsoft office suite. Willingness to be trained on the college’s administrative computing system (SCT PowerCampus)
• This position requires a great deal of multitasking and strong organizational skills
• Must be a self-starter with a high degree of accountability
• Ability to travel, work evenings and possible weekend hours as required
• Interpersonal and professional skills necessary to develop and maintain strong working relationships with a variety of on-campus and off-campus groups, organizations and individuals
• Ability to work cooperatively and supportively with other members of the Administrative Council

PROCEDURE FOR NOMINATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

Inquiries, nominations, and applications are invited. Applications received by February 6, 2017, will be given full consideration. Send a thoughtful letter of application addressing the qualifications and desired attributes; curriculum vitae; and the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of five references. Calls to references will occur later in the search process and only with prior notification of candidates. All submissions will be treated in confidence and should be sent electronically (MS Word format preferred) to: SouthwesternVPEM@academic-search.com. The committee is assisted by Dr. Wanda Durrett Bigham, Senior Consultant, who can be reached at wdb@academic-search.com or by calling 334-425-6865.

Southwestern College is an EEO/AA employer.