Assistant Vice President and Director of Admissions

Assistant Vice President and Director of Admissions

 

Chicago State University, in partnership with the national search firm, Scott Healy & Associates, invites applications and nominations for the position of Assistant Vice President and Director of Admissions. This role provides vital leadership and oversees the day-to-day operations of undergraduate admissions.

 

Primary Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will supervise, train/coach, and manage all regular and temporary admissions personnel. In addition, the Director will develop and implement recruitment and enrollment strategies that will assist the University in achieving its enrollment goals and objectives. It is the Director’s duty to:

• Review, coordinate, and enhance the admissions/enrollment business processes to insure enhanced utilization of technology and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the department.
• Interpret and monitor federal, state and institutional policies and regulations pertaining to admission processes and procedures to insure compliance with these regulations.
• Coordinate the review, revision and development of enrollment, recruitment and admissions policies, processes and procedures to align institutional and system requirements.
• Assist in the development of a coordinated approach to financial aid, registration, and academic advising.
• Provide guidance in the design of promotional and display materials for admissions.
• Develop and manage the admissions budget, including accurate forecasting of budget needs.
• Assist with completion, monitoring and submission of admissions data for federal, state and institutional reports.
• Generate weekly admissions reports and develop enrollment forecasts and projections.
• Establish strategies and tactics by evaluating trends, developing metrics, formulating customer-service approaches, assessing and reworking systems, articulating resource requirements, resolving problems, and implementing change as identified, measured, and achievable.
• Collaborate throughout the College community and maintain strong relationships with departments, work closely with the alumni office, and contribute to marketing, communications, and publications.
• Maintain a pipeline of leads, recruits, applicants (first year and transfer), analyze enrollment trends and modify activities as necessary, develop the sales strategy for the College’s recruitment and admission activities, and measure results.
• Maximize recruiting and admissions operations by using modern, state of the art recruiting and admissions technologies.
• Manage staff.
• Accomplish personnel management strategies by: setting accountable goals and measuring performance; communicating vertically and horizontally; reinforcing organizational values, policies, and procedures; implementing recruitment, selection, orientation, training, coaching, and counseling for current and new staff; planning, monitoring, appraising, and reviewing staff contributions.
• Read, interpret, and evaluate students’ academic credentials and make admission/denial decisions.
• Assist with scholarship appropriation.
• Complete occasional required evening and/or weekend work.
• Provide overall leadership and direction to admissions, financial aid, registrar, student accounts, student success, institutional research, and enrollment. 
• Encourage and support these areas in achieving their goals.
• Strive to achieve annual enrollment goals for undergraduate and graduate programs through recruitment, retention, and registration of students.
• Provide general oversight to the processes, procedures, and research necessary to achieve optimal enrollment.
• Serve as a member of the President’s Council, particularly representing the needs required to sustain or grow enrollment.

 

Leadership Responsibilities:

• Mission, Vision & Values: Takes specific steps to ensure the University’s mission, vision, and values are highly visible and integrated into all entities and activities of the division.  Develops and consistently communicates a strong core ideology (who we are and how we behave) and vision (where we are going and what we are trying to achieve together) for the division. Develops and implements activities and programs that establish and maintain a sense of unity and shared purpose at all levels and across all units of the division.  Aligns and prioritizes divisional financial and human resources around the University’s mission, vision, and strategies.
• General Management & Planning: Ensures the development, implementation and continual evaluation of an organizational structure, culture, practices, processes, policies, procedures, and management systems that facilitate effective planning and goal achievement; Takes specific steps to continually improve the division’s structure and processes to ensure they are functioning effectively (e.g. rigor of oversight and quality of decisions) and efficiently (e.g. costs, ease of process and timeliness of decisions or outcomes).

 

Functional Responsibilities:

• Meet weekly with the enrollment management team (Directors of the departments in the Enrollment division), as well as bi-monthly with each director, providing mentoring and leadership.  Be available to the directors for ad hoc meetings and ongoing personal feedback.
• Attend and actively participate in the weekly President Council meetings.  Represent the President’s perspective on issues, as well as his vision for the University, to prospective/current students and their families   Work collaboratively with other division vice presidents/deans and their areas to advance the mission of the University.
• Set, monitor, and achieve new student recruitment, overall enrollment, retention, and retention goals for undergraduate, graduate, and online programs. 
• Monitor and benchmark metrics related to enrollment such as inquiry to application, inquiry to enrollment, admittance to enrollment, freshmen retention rate, four and six year graduation rates, tuition discount rate, etc.
• Establish process and procedures that are efficient and when possible implement ”best practices” in recruitment and retention.

 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, business or education, Master’s degree preferred;
• Five or more years’ experience as an admissions leader and manager;
• Hands on experience in the following: search and recruitment process, Enrollment Recruitment Predictive Modeling or Sales Forecasting, scholarship leveraging, budget management, communication plan development, and CRM maximization (Slate, SalesForce, TargetX);
• Excellent demonstrated communication skills;
• Project management;
• Proven and demonstrable track record of success; and
• Relevant experience associated with all job duties and responsibilities.

 

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Effective managerial, supervisory and human relations skills;
• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills; Ability to develop and manage budgets;
• Ability to work with professional integrity and discretion;
• Strong analytical skills including data gathering, analysis, assessment and evaluation, and evidence based planning;
• Proven ability to develop, understand, and articulate guidelines, procedures, instructions, regulations and laws’
• Ability to prepares unit assessment plans, unit strategic plans, action plans and objectives; and
• Ability to keep abreast of best practices.

 

About Chicago State University:

Chicago State University (CSU), founded in 1867, is the oldest public university in the Chicago Metropolitan area. CSU is known for its impressive landscape, sitting on 161 wooded acres featuring large tracts of open space and beautiful trees. The campus is located near the recently-renovated CTA 95th Street station, as well as other transit systems that all provide commuter students, faculty and staff convenient access to the campus. The University’s five colleges—Health Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Pharmacy—offer various undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree-granting programs. The University also provides the greater South Side Chicago community with a multitude of athletic, cultural, educational and recreational activities.

 

About Chicago, Illinois:

The City of Chicago is one of the largest cities in the U.S. with approximately 2.7 million residents, and is seated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, the 5th largest body of fresh water in the world. Chicago's extensive parklands and 28 miles of lakefront attract an estimated 86 million visitors annually.

 

As a multicultural city that thrives on the harmony and diversity of its neighborhoods, Chicago today embodies the values of America's heartland-integrity, hard work and community and reflects the ideals in the social fabric of its 77 distinct neighborhoods. Chicago is a leader in reforming public schools, enhancing public safety and security initiatives, providing affordable housing in attractive and economically sound communities, ensuring accessibility for all, and fostering, social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

 

Chicago is recognized across the United States as a very passionate place. The city is home to eight major league sports teams, more than 200 theatres, 250 live music venues, and 200 professional dance companies, as well as over 7,300 restaurants and 160 breweries in the Chicagoland area. In Chicago you will also find 59 historic districts and hundreds of historic landmarks, and the city hosts more than 70 music festivals, 36 parades, and over 40 film festivals annually.

 

Application and Nomination Process:

All correspondence relating to the position of Assistant Vice President and Director of Admissions at Chicago State University should be directed in confidence to the University’s executive search consultant:

Adam W. Barrett, Associate Vice President

Scott Healy & Associates

[email protected]

 

A complete application should include the following:

1. Cover Letter outlining your interest and qualifications for the position;
2. Updated CV;
3. Three (3) professional references with contact information, title, institutional affiliation, email address and direct phone numbers. (No references will be contacted without written permission from the candidate.)

 

 

Applications received by April 10, 2023 will receive priority consideration. The search will remain open until the position is filled.

 

Chicago State University supports the principles of equal opportunity and diversity in employment and education. The University seeks to ensure that no person will encounter discrimination in employment or education on the basis of age, color, disability, sex, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran' s status. This policy is applicable to both the employment practices and administration of programs and activities within the University. It is the policy of the University that no person shall be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or in any way be subject to discrimination in any program or activity at the University.

 

Chicago State University applies this commitment to all employment and educational practices, including but not limited to, recruitment of staff and students, admissions, hiring and training procedures, advancement and retention policies, and curriculum/course materials. More specifically, Chicago State University is committed to diversification of all its internal divisions by race and gender. This commitment stems not only from legal and moral considerations, but also from a conviction that an institution of higher learning is enriched by the presence of diversity and that narrow cultural biases serve to limit rather than enhance the teaching, research, and service functions which are the hallmarks of Chicago State Universities mission.