The candidacy for Vice President of Enrollment Management is still undecided, but the Provost’s Office is confident the position will be filled by January.
Though the position was originally scheduled to be filled earlier in 2014, Provost Ronald Rochon cites the hiring of a higher education consulting firm for the delay.
Rochon said there have been no significant changes recently regarding the administration’s thought process towards its enrollment strategy.
“What we’re doing currently is seeking campus feedback,” Rochon said, after the five candidates finished meeting with students over a three week process. “We’re now vetting the candidates more, getting a sense of their strengths and weaknesses.”
He said he was very optimistic regarding plans to fill the position by the beginning of the spring semester.
The overall thought process, Rochon said, was to take all steps possible in order to select the most qualified candidate for the job.
In addition to helping the university choose its Enrollment VP, Noel-Levitz has been consulting the university on improving its retention rates, as well as increasing the school’s graduation rate.
The comprehensive goal is to ultimately secure a more effective long-term enrollment strategy for USI. The three year contract with Noel-Levitz began in 2013 and is costing the university $500,000.
While the enrollment strategy has been an adaptive process, Rochon said the end goal has remained the same — to not only improve the quantity of registered students on campus, but their educational quality as well.
“In addition to incoming traditional freshmen, we’ve also been very intentional with helping the adult learner as well,” he said. “We’ve been a campus with at least 25% of our students being non-traditional.”
“I think prior to these strong efforts with the consultant, most of our efforts have been seen as limited to the Admissions Office,” Rochon said. “However, I carry the message that every one of us is in effect a recruitment and retention officer at this university. It’s important for all to understand they play a major role.”
