Dean of Admissions

DEAN OF ADMISSIONS

TRINITY COLLEGE

Hartford, Connecticut

Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, hailed as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation, seeks a dynamic, creative, and innovative student-centered professional to join the division of enrollment and student success and serve as Dean of Admissions. 

Trinity’s enrollment division is under the leadership of Dr. Angel Pérez, Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success.   With increasing internal and external responsibility for elevating Trinity’s profile and fundraising for student financial aid, the Vice President will continue to provide focus and oversight of divisional strategic recruitment initiatives, sustaining Trinity’s financial aid promise, and retention/enrollment management.  The Dean of Admissions will be a critical partner in helping the Vice President and the College realize new ambitions.  The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in developing Trinity’s admission strategy, manage all aspects of recruitment and selection, and will work to sustain and improve upon successes the College has achieved in the areas of selectivity, quality, and diversity of the institution’s student body.  The new Dean will be a highly visible member of the community and an effective spokesperson for the College.

The Division:

The division of enrollment and student success includes the offices of undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid, Posse Scholars, career development, student success, retention, and the Individualized Degree Program.  The division aims to enroll, fund, and support an academically talented and diverse student body.  Working as a highly collaborative unit, the division develops strategies around recruitment, individual student success, outcomes, and retention. 

The mission statement for the division is: “We enroll and cultivate intellectually engaged students and prepare them to lead transformative lives.”

The successful candidate will serve as a campus leader and strategist in advancing the overall goals of the division.  This leader will join Trinity as the College focuses on creating an enrollment and student success plan that is forward thinking, innovative, and strategic. 

The new Dean will be passionate about the divisional mission, and will be responsible for the inspirational direction along with strategy implementation of all aspects of predictive modeling and recruitment. The successful candidate will engage in long-term admissions planning and evaluation, as well as resource management.  This position presents a significant opportunity to help shape the vision for enrollment management on campus.  Continually monitoring admissions data and making evidence-based adjustments and recommendations to the recruitment plan, the Dean will seek new and innovative recruitment strategies to combine with tested and true practices, for the continued success in both traditional undergraduate recruitment and graduate admissions. The Dean will serve as a collaborative administrator, while also providing thought-leadership on issues of strategic enrollment management.  The Dean of Admissions, together with key members of the enrollment and student success leadership team, will cultivate a recruitment plan that supports the College’s evolving strategic enrollment plan for admissions, retention, and career development. 

The Dean of Admissions will be responsible for:

• Serving as an important leader in the enrollment and student success division and partnering with the Vice President on all matters related to enrollment, financial aid, student success, and institutional success. 
• Collaboratively administrating and envisioning key strategies with the Vice President and other division leadership on financial aid and enrollment management issues, including econometric enrollment modeling and retention analysis.
• Energetically directing recruitment efforts and professional formation of admission counseling staff, urging each person to rise to their substantial potential.
• Overseeing recruitment and admissions efforts for both the office of graduate admissions and undergraduate admissions.
• Supervising a robust enrollment operations process and overseeing the efforts of the operations team.
• Managing the admissions operating budget.
• With other key players in enrollment and student success, partnering with external agencies in econometric analysis and predictive modeling for recruitment and financial aid
• Leading partnership efforts with coaches and others in athletics, providing visibility and managing relationships built through liaisons to that department 
• Setting the standards of collaboration and heightening the visibility of the enrollment and student success division on campus while nurturing an enrollment and recruitment culture with faculty, staff, students, and alumni
• Traveling to represent the institution at conferences, national meetings; willingness to lead sessions and forums is desired.

Qualifications

• Possess a track record of successfully enrolling students who persist;
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion;
• Experience leading, managing and supporting a high-functioning team;
• Exceptional organizational, interpersonal, communication, and management skills;
• Technology-minded and data-informed; able to interpret data to optimize decisions;
• Tuned into current and emerging trends in the field of enrollment management and in higher education with a strong understanding of demographics;
• Awareness of students’ range of abilities, breadth of experiences, and nuanced understanding of engaging with one another in a thriving, living-learning community;
• Excels in maximizing CRM and SIS use and efficiency; proficiency with Slate and PeopleSoft is a plus;
• Experience in data utilization to inform predictive modeling and retention; analysis systems as well as a developed knowledge of financial aid modeling and leveraging;
• A passion and appreciation for liberal arts education;
• High energy, creativity and a positive outlook;
• Respect for traditions that build community and responsive to the College mission and vision;
• Adaptable and open to change; operates well and enthusiastically under pressure;
• Experience presenting at conferences, leading group training sessions, and comfort in public speaking;
• Experience working with community based organizations; experience with the Posse Foundation, or similar organization is desired;
• A highly collaborative individual with a sense of humor will be appreciated;
• Eight or more years of experience in a progressively senior supervisory role is required;
• A bachelor’s degree is required and an advanced degree is strongly preferred.

Trinity College 

Set on Summit Street in the capital city of Hartford, Connecticut, Trinity College is where the liberal arts meets the real world. Since it opened its doors in 1823, founded in the Episcopal tradition and rooted in principles of religious and academic freedom, Trinity has remained steadfastly committed to providing a liberal arts education that is both relevant and timeless.  As the institution completes the development of a strategic plan, prepares for its upcoming bicentennial celebration, and enters into a new capital campaign with a goal of increasing financial aid for its students, the incumbent will have an opportunity to impact enrollment, retention, and student success initiatives at the College.

Today, as we look toward the college’s bicentennial, we do so in the context of a world in which technology has led to innovations we couldn’t have imagined a half-century ago; in which scholarship has advanced understanding of our history, ourselves, and our planet; and in which our lives on campus can connect to those around the globe in ways that are at once instantaneous and enduring… Trinity College is distinctly positioned to advance these ideals and meet these considerable responsibilities, all the while attending to the stability and sustainability of this historic institution.  (Summit, A Strategic Plan for the Future of Trinity College)

Trinity maintains its focus through a defined mission, the strategic plan, and a commitment to key initiatives. The liberal arts and sciences are taught on a beautiful, 100-acre campus with classic collegiate architecture. Immersed in an environment fostering independent thinking, students are encouraged to pursue a wide array of interests both in and outside of the classroom. Trinity provides a real-world education.  For-credit internships, research opportunities, community-based learning, study away, and groundbreaking centers and programs are available to all students to participate in academic pursuits that have lasting impact on their lives.  Beginning in fall 2019, incoming first-year students have three options for entering Trinity:  a traditional fall entry; a newer January start; and Global Start, where students spend their fall semester in San Jose, Costa Rica, giving them the opportunity to immerse themselves in another country’s culture in their very first semester of college.

Trinity College’s 2,100 undergraduate students enjoy a 9:1 student-faculty ratio with faculty dedicated to their profession, and committed to working with students in laboratories and libraries, on research and on publications.  Students choose Trinity for a classic, yet distinctive college experience in an historic, urban neighborhood.  Domestic students hail from forty-seven states and twenty-one percent of the students come from traditionally underrepresented populations. Ten percent are international students from sixty-eight foreign countries. Graduate students number nearly 100.

Trinity College meets the full, institutionally-calculated need of all of its newly admitted first-year financial aid candidates, and four-year aid awards are created for qualifying low-income students. Approximately sixty percent of all Trinity students receive some form of financial assistance from institutional, federal, state, and private funds. Institutional merit scholarships have recently become available on a limited basis.  Each year, Trinity students receive more than $50 million in financial aid, with over $40 million committed through institutional funds.

Over 140 student clubs and organizations are offered for student participation.  Music festivals, movies, concerts, lectures, student government meetings, a cappella practice, mock trials, and art shows, are a few of the various student activities.  Trinity is home to thirty intercollegiate athletic teams and participates in NCAA Division III as well as the New England Small College Athletic Conference.  Students may choose to compete in a variety of club sports and intramural sports on campus.

College Leadership: 

Since becoming president five years ago, Joanne Berger-Sweeney has overseen several major accomplishments, including the completion of the college’s strategic plan, Summit, which will guide Trinity toward its bicentennial in 2023 and beyond; the creation of the Bantam Network mentoring program for first-year students; the launch of the Campaign for Community, a campus initiative promoting inclusiveness and respect; and the expansion of Trinity’s footprint to Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford.

For more about Trinity College, go to https://www.trincoll.edu/.

Hartford, Connecticut

Proudly located in the state capital, Trinity is a world-class liberal arts college and one of this country’s oldest, residing among other important institutions of higher learning including the University of Connecticut School of Business, the Hartford Seminary, and the University of Connecticut Law School.  Both a large town and a small city with a population of 125,000, Hartford has had a range of economic fortunes throughout the six centuries since first residents colonized along the Connecticut River.  Hartford is the historic base of today’s insurance industry and offers a growing number of culturally diverse restaurants, attractions, arts and entertainment venues, and many Fortune 500 companies.

The downtown area of Hartford is its central business district, home to the State Capitol as well as museums and shops.  Trinity College is located in the neighborhood of Frog Hollow, near the downtown area.  A mixed residential and commercial area, Asylum Hill, features the headquarters of several insurance companies as well as the historic homes of both Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe.  The Connecticut Ballet, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, constructed by the same architects who designed Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Connecticut Opera and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra are a few of the cultural highlights of Hartford.   Located halfway between Boston and New York, each within 2 hours, Hartford is 15 miles from Bradley International Airfield with convenient and inexpensive transit between the airport and the city.  Learn more about this unique and prosperous city at Hartford.com.

To Apply

Napier Executive Search is assisting Trinity College in their search for Dean of Admissions.  For more information or to nominate someone for this position, contact Mary Napier at mary.napier@napiersearch.com  for a confidential conversation.

Interested candidates should submit a current resume along with a cover letter expressing interest in the position and in Trinity College as well as qualifications for the position to trincoll@napiersearch.com  on or before May 17, 2019.  Candidates should also provide the names and contact information for at least three professional references.  References will not be contacted without permission.  Finalists will be subject to standard background checks.  The start date is anticipated to be Summer 2019 and is negotiable. 

Trinity College is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.  Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.  Applicants with disabilities should request, in advance, any needed accommodation in order to participate in the application process.