Vice President for Enrollment Management

SEARCH PROSPECTUS:

Wichita Falls, TX

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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The Search

Midwestern State University

About Wichita Falls and the MSU Texas Campus

The Opportunity – Vice President for Enrollment Management

Leadership Agenda

Qualifications

Applications and Nominations

2SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

3SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

THE SEARCH

Midwestern State University, located in Wichita Falls, Texas, seeks an accomplished and energetic leader for the position of Vice President for Enrollment Management (VPEM). The VPEM is the University’s chief

enrollment officer, reporting to President Suzanne Shipley, and working with the president’s cabinet. The position is available on or about July 1, 2018.

Founded in 1922 as a municipal junior college, Midwestern State University has developed into Texas’ only recognized public liberal arts university with an enrollment of more than 6,000 students. Students come from 44 states and 54 countries, and have the ability to pursue 45 undergraduate majors and 27 graduate programs. Professional programs in the health sciences, business, engineering and education build upon and complement the strong foundation offered by a thriving array of liberal arts disciplines.

Midwestern State University (MSU Texas) is one of only four public institutions in the state of Texas that is not part of a university system (e.g., University of Texas System, Texas A&M University System, Texas Tech University System, et al). Rather, MSU Texas has an independent board of ten regents. This is one of the defining characteristics of the institution, and has helped maintain its distinctive mission. MSU Texas is also the only university in Texas to become a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC). As such, the University provides excellent learning resources and a dedicated teaching faculty comprised of active scholars and experienced professional teachers. Moreover, the university boasts small class sizes, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 18 to 1, and offers study abroad programs in Spain, England, France, Germany, and, beginning this summer, Grenada. The University promotes and facilitates undergraduate research through its EURECA (Enhancing Undergraduate Research Endeavors & Creative Activities) program. Students have significant opportunities to

engage with the campus and local communities through more than 100 student organizations offered to enrich the college experience.

Midwestern State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degrees. MSU Texas’ most recent reaffirmation occurred in December 2013, and the university is proud that no recommendations for improvement were issued. The Dillard College of Business Administration, the West College of Education, the Fain College of Fine Arts, the Gunn College of Health Sciences and Human Services, the Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Science and Mathematics each house programs that are independently accredited by both national and regional accrediting bodies.

MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

4SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

Wichita Falls, Texas is situated midway between Oklahoma City and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. With nearly 104,000 residents, Wichita Falls offers all of the attractions of a major metropolis and all of the charm of a small town.

MSU Texas’ 255-acre campus is nestled in the city’s residential area, and includes 70 buildings, numerous playing fields, and an outdoor recreational facility near Sikes Lake. Red-brick buildings and sculpted archways give the campus a welcoming collegiate feel. Four residence halls and three apartment complexes provide on-campus housing for students.

ABOUT WICHITA FALLS AND THE MSU TEXAS CAMPUS

5SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

The Vice President for Enrollment Management will lead the newly-formed Division of Enrollment Management which will include the Office of Admissions, the Office of Financial Aid, and the Office of the Registrar. These units, with nearly 40 full-time staff collectively, formerly reported through the Divisions of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs. This new organizational structure reflects a strategic emphasis on and commitment to a holistic approach to enrollment.

After reaching an enrollment high of 6,400 in Fall 2010, enrollment decreased through Fall 2013. Since that time enrollment has been steady. Fall 2017 enrollment was 6,080 (5,330 undergraduate, 821 graduate), up slightly from 6,064 in Fall 2016, which is consistent with a general trend of slight increases over the previous four years. MSU Texas exceeds its peer institutions on most metrics of student success. The four-year graduation rate (based on the most recent data) is 20.8%, while the six-year rate is 45.0%. The first-year retention rate for the class entering in Fall 2016 was 66.8%, and the two-year retention rate was 57.4%. As increased retention is a strategic priority, the University has recently introduced a First-Year Experience, and hopes to leverage this new program to further enhance retention. MSU Texas awarded a total of 1,309 degrees in 2016-2017, 226 of which were at the master’s level.

Midwestern State University is also a diverse institution. 19% of MSU Texas students identify as Hispanic and 14.5% identify as African American. 50% of the student body are first-generation students and 82% of students come from Texas, while 18% are from out-of-state. The out-of-state population includes a robust international student presence, which makes up 10% of the overall student body, with a particularly large contingent of students coming from the Caribbean. In 2016-2017, 76% of the MSU Texas student population received $56.7 million in some form of financial aid assistance, with approximately 40% of the

student population receiving the federal Pell Grant.

Not content to remain at status quo, the University has identified the aggressive pursuit of new student populations as a strategic initiative. The new populations will include (but are not necessarily limited to) students seeking a traditional residential college experience, students seeking programs and degrees online, working adults, and an increasing proportion of first-generation students.

The new VPEM will be in a position to build on some of the exciting progress that has already been made toward reaching these potential students. For example, MSU Texas brought a new residence hall online in 2016 to enhance the residential college experience, raising the number of residence halls to four. The new Legacy Hall includes a learning commons and offers traditional living arrangements. A further three university-run apartment complexes complete the on-campus housing opportunities for students.

To serve the working adult population MSU Texas has entered into partnerships with Weatherford College and North Central Texas College (NCTC) to offer upper-level courses outside the immediate Wichita Falls area. Furthermore, the University now leases a new building near NCTC’s campus in Flower Mound, allowing working adults from across the DFW area to fully complete bachelor’s degrees in high-demand fields.

In late 2017, ground was broken on a new building for the Gunn College of Health Sciences and Human Services, which enrolls 37% of all students at MSU Texas. Several of the university’s signature programs, such as the Wilson School of Nursing, Radiologic Sciences, and Respiratory Care, are housed in the Gunn College, and the new building will continue to help those programs provide best-in-class service to students.

THE OPPORTUNITY – VP FOR ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

6SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

LEADERSHIP AGENDA

Building on the strategic initiative to pursue new student populations, the following items have been identified as areas of particular importance for the new Vice President for Enrollment Management:

Enrollment Growth - Using a holistic approach to enrollment growth that emphasizes recruitment as well as retention, the new VPEM will help define and meet new enrollment targets. The new VPEM will also have the opportunity to work with stakeholders to create a strategic enrollment plan that leverages undergraduate, graduate, professional, online, and satellite campus enrollment toward the larger goal of overall enrollment growth.

Reorganization of Enrollment Management - The new VPEM will work with the offices of admissions, financial aid, and the registrar to integrate the new Division of Enrollment Management, while retaining the student-centeredness that these offices enjoyed while reporting to student and academic affairs.

Communication - Following on the success of the Financial Aid and Admissions Task Force, a joint committee of faculty, staff, and administration, the new VPEM will maintain transparent lines of communication with the governance bodies of the University.

Brand Awareness – The new VPEM will have the opportunity to collaborate with the Office of Marketing and Public Information to leverage the University’s recent branding initiative of MSU Texas to enhance recruitment. There are also opportunities to pursue targeted recruitment for specific academic programs to drive enrollment growth.

7SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Qualifications:• An advanced degree • Progressively responsible leadership

experience in the field of enrollment management

Desired Attributes:• A record of success at generating enrollment

growth while maintaining academic quality• Deep familiarity with strategic enrollment

management practices and methodology• Knowledge of recruitment and retention

technology• Awareness of the interplay between

academic recordkeeping, degree requirements, and academic policy

• Data-driven decision making, including the ability to interpret and use data to create practical goals

• Ability to optimize financial aid for recruitment, retention, and success

• An understanding of integrated marketing and branding strategies in higher education

• Experience with students from first-generation and low socio-economic backgrounds

• Experience with online education, as well as off-site locations

• Experience with undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs

• Ability to partner with community colleges, as well as experience with articulation agreements

• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to inspire colleagues toward a vision

• Readiness to participate in the University’s leadership team

• Student-centeredness• Commitment to the University’s public

liberals arts mission

8SEARCH PROSPECTUS: Vice President for Enrollment Management

APPLICATIONS AND NOMINATIONS

The search is being assisted by Academic Search, Inc. For a confidential discussion of this position prior to applying or nominating, contact Dr. Eric Richtmyer at ewr@academic-search.com.

The position will remain open until filled, but only applications received by March 15, 2018, can be assured full consideration. Materials should

include a letter of interest addressing how the applicant meets the qualifications described above, a curriculum vitae or resume, and a list of at least five references with full contact information, sent to MSUTEXASVPEM@academic-search.com. More information about Midwestern State University is available at http://www.mwsu.edu.

ABOUT ACADEMIC SEARCH

Academic Search, Inc. is assisting Midwestern State University in this work. For more than four decades, Academic Search has offered executive search services exclusively to institutions of higher education. Academic Search was founded on the principle of strengthening higher education leadership through professional search services. We are the only search firm in the nation with a formal relationship to a premier leadership development program. As the subsidiary of the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI), Academic Search provides substantial financial support to a number of leadership identification, development, and support programs across all sectors of public and private higher education. For more information, visit http://www.academic-search.com/.

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