SEM Initial Charge

Strategic Enrollment Management

Initial Charge

From Interim President David Ellis

September 2017

Enrollment management encompasses the entire process from recruitment of prospects through admission, matriculation, retention and graduation. Students are the lifeblood of Lewis & Clark, and the way we identify, recruit, admit, enroll, retain and graduate them is arguably the most important function at the College after teaching.

The demographic and economic trends we face are daunting. There are fewer graduates from high school, and that number will continue to shrink for a decade. This smaller group of graduates will be more diverse, comprised of more first-generation students and more students of color. Their average household income, and with it their family’s ability to pay for higher education, will be increasingly stretched to meet education costs.

To ensure we attract and retain a diverse student body of acceptable size, at a sustainable discount rate, it is incumbent upon the College of Arts and Sciences to develop and implement a long term Strategic Enrollment Management Plan. To oversee this process, I have appointed Dean Bruce Suttmeier. Bruce will chair a steering committee, made up as follows:

• Bruce Suttmeier, interim Dean of the CAS—Chair
• Lisa Meyer, Dean for Enrollment and Communications
• Alan Finn, Vice President for Business and Finance
• Anna Gonzalez, Dean of Students CAS
• Rachel Cole, Associate Professor and Chair of the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee

The charge to Dean Suttmeier and the Committee is to develop and implement a rolling, five-year Strategic Enrollment Management Plan for the CAS.

In order to accomplish this, the SEM Committee will have the authority, acting as a Committee through its chair, to:

• request information from across the institution
• evaluate and require the collection of relevant data
• evaluate and recommend the employment of consultants
• coordinate enrollment-based recruitment strategy and materials
• determine enrollment targets related to admissions, tuition, financial aid and budget planning
• organize strategy for composition of admitted student cohorts
• partnering with academic programs in enrollment planning and competitive strategies
• oversee retention strategy and planning

I encourage and expect the steering committee to foster broad participation in the coordination of these complex tasks, bringing together people and offices across campus to collaborate in our shared mission of enrolling, educating, and graduating our students. I urge them to make outreach and communication a large part of their undertaking, seeking input and building support as they articulate the strategy and goals of this process.