The Enrollment Management Think Tank Develops Senior Leader Track for the 2016 SSATB Annual Meeting

While immersed in the busy admission season, members of the Enrollment Management Think Tank (EMTT), took a break from file reading (or head of school duties in the case of Suzanne Walker Buck) to chart their course for the spring. Inspired by the work of the Think Tank on the Future of Assessment, the EMTT will create a robust track for senior admission professional at this year’s SSATB Annual Meeting in Baltimore. Presenters will focus on the EMTT’s research questions, developed following a day-long workshop with Christina Drouin, founder and president of the Center for Strategic Planning, who led the EMTT in a STEEP analysis (Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, and Political) to identify the external factors facing today’s enrollment management professionals.

Here is a brief glimpse into some hot topics being discussed by EMTT members:

• What does the “modern admission office” look like? Does staffing/hiring include a new focus on important technological skills and adaptability? Does professional development planning provide opportunity for developing technology skills?
• The ability to afford a college education has emerged as the biggest roadblock to attending college. What are the most common changes and/or adjustments enrollment managers in higher education are making in order to cope with and prevail over enrollment challenges due to affordability?
• Dubbed “the Amazon of higher education,” Southern New Hampshire University, under the leadership of President Paul LeBlanc, morphed from a struggling institution of 2,000 students to a thriving education program with 34,000 students enrolled online and 3,000 on campus. How did they accomplish this?
• Don Tapscott’s 2008 book Grown Up Digital inspires us to think about the implications of Generation Z’s traits when considering branding, positioning, and the delivery of educational products and services. Do we even need to worry about Millennials?

Look for information soon about the special senior track at the 2016 SSATB Annual Meeting in Baltimore—September 14-17.

THINK TANK MEMBERS

• Co-Chair: Jill Lee, Director of Admission and Tuition Assistance, Castilleja School (CA)
• Co-Chair: Jim Ventre, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Phillips Academy (MA)
• Kelly Monaco, Director of Admission, Lower School, Iolani School (HI)
• Suzanne Walker Buck, Rector, Chatham Hall School (VA)
• Douglas Leek, Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management, The Northwest School (WA)