Vice President of Enrollment Management

Posted: 09/22/2024

Education

The Vice President for Enrollment Management (VPEM) serves as a key member of the President's executive cabinet for Bemidji State University (BSU) and Northwest Technical College (NTC) providing leadership for comprehensive strategic enrollment management. The Vice President oversees marketing and outreach (effective July 1, 2025); recruitment, yield, and matriculation; enrollment services including records and registration; transfer admissions; graduate admissions; financial aid; the Student Success Center and related retention programs; TRIO Student Support Services and Upward Bound; programs for military affiliated students; and the International Programs Center.

The Vice President is an influential leader who advances holistic student learning and success grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a member of the President’s executive cabinet, the VPEM engages in team leadership with cabinet peers and advances shared governance inclusive of faculty, student affairs educators, professional staff, and students as well as alumni and members of the community. The VPEM also serves a critical role in facilitating cross-divisional and cross-functional collaboration among academic administrators, faculty, student affairs educators, and enrollment management professionals. Collaboration with the Vice President for American Indian Student Success, the Campus Diversity Officer, and the American Indian Resource Center, among others, is essential.

The VPEM has significant budgetary, supervisory, and management responsibilities and is an active partner in BSU’s and NTC’s ongoing strategic planning and implementation. In addition to the previously noted roles connect to new student recruitment and retention, the VPEM is responsible for creating a transfer friendly campus and for achieving vibrancy in dual admission partnerships with regional Tribal Colleges, two-year colleges, and businesses and industries spanning Northern Minnesota.

The VPEM reports directly to the directly to the President, works in conjunction with the Executive Vice President and Senior Academic Officer for all matters pertaining to NTC, and may serve as senior administrator in charge from time to time in the President’s absence.

CHARACTERISTIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Executive Leadership

Serving as a member of the President’s Executive Cabinet Team; participating in meetings of the BSU Cabinet and attend NTC Cabinet meetings when appropriate.
Providing thought leadership related to the scope of responsibility in planning and decision-making for BSU and NTC including service as a senior advisor and trusted partner to the President in pursuit of the vision and mission of BSU and NTC.
Centering holistic student learning, success, and achievement leading to long-term educational value in all professional practices.
Demonstrating self-awareness of one's own cultural beliefs, perspectives, and privileges as a part of one’s orientation toward leadership.
Acknowledging the specific and particular realities of Indigenous, Black and persons of color, 2SLGBTQIAP+ individuals, first-generation college students, people from low-income families, and other minoritized communities within Northern Minnesota while also connecting communities to local and regional experiences in order to foster a greater sense of belonging among employees and students.
Advancing a campus culture of proactive, transparent, and inclusive engagement with shared governance. Actively and visibly engage with campus, local, and regional communities.
Promoting practices that are environmentally sustainable and consistent with practices advanced by American Indian stewards of the region’s land, water, and air.
Proactively engaging in data-informed practices that lead to continuous improvement.
Committing to the highest level of ethical practice including allocation of time and resources for reflection, rest, mentoring/consultation, etc.
Maintaining currency in areas of leadership responsibility including all aspects of enrollment management delineated below through engagement with strategically selected and agreed-upon professional organizations.

Senior Enrollment Management Officer

Enrollment Management Leadership
- Ensuring communication regarding University and College decisions to the various units within the division.
- Representing the University and College at system-wide enrollment management meetings and with other related external entities.
- Supporting the Provost, Academic Deans, and Academic School Leaders in disseminating enrollment forecast data to inform ongoing program review and currency as well as additional forms of faculty-initiated program responsiveness.
- Partnering with the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness to compiling, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting enrollment data to various constituencies.
- Educating the University and College community about student needs, particularly as related to recruitment, retention, and success.
- Collaborating with the Senior Student Affairs Officer and Dean of Students to provide enrollment management guidance for departments reporting to the SSAO/DOS.
Strategic Enrollment Management Planning
- Collaborating with faculty and staff throughout each campus and across divisions to develop short-term and long-term enrollment management plans for both BSU and NTC.
- Reviewing, analyzing, and interpreting data to ensure data-informed decisions to establishing, continuously improving, and refining outcomes and developing strategies in support of enrollment management plans.
- Implementing enrollment management strategies to positively impact recruitment and retention of all students—graduate and undergraduate; new first-time students and transfer students; in-person and online students; traditional age students and adult learners; full-time and part-time students; and student accessing BSU and NTC through various partnerships, customized training experiences, and other emergent pathways.
- Developing and implementing strategies focused on recruiting and retaining American Indian students and Students of Color, as well as international students.
- Administering, reviewing, modifying, and recommending enrollment management policies to enhance and support student completion.
Advising, Student Success, and Retention
- Providing strategic leadership in developing, implementing, and assessing a comprehensive student success plans to include strategies and interventions informed by theory, inclusive and equitable practices, and data-informed practices that enhance student retention, graduation, and graduate outcomes.
- Facilitating the development of a culture that recognizes, affirms, and helps students draw upon cultural, communal, and identity-based ways of knowing, being, and doing to achieve educational outcomes.
- Collaborating with others on campus to ensure a welcoming, inclusive, and success-oriented environment for minoritized and all other students.
- Supporting the exploration and sharing of best practices related to improving retention, persistence, and completion for placed-at-risk and under-represented students.
- Embodying and exhibiting a philosophical approach grounded in the belief that all students can learn and succeed.
Marketing and Communications
- Supervising the Executive Director of Communications and Marketing in creating robust, multi-channel messaging used for recruitment purposes. (effective July 1, 2025)
- Ensuring the development of innovative and successful campus plans to identify new markets and methods for attracting, retaining, and graduating students while maintaining core enrollments.
Supervision
- Overseeing the following departments, offices, and programs: Admissions (undergraduate, transfer, graduate); Financial Aid; Records; the Student Success Center; TRIO Student Success Services and Upward Bound; the Office of Communications and Marketing (July 1, 2025); the International Program Center; and programs for military-affiliated students.
- Consultation and oversight for handling personnel matters, responding to employee complaints and grievances, and addressing unusual situations.
- Continuous professional development of staff.

QUALIFICATIONS:
Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
A record of progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education including administration of budgets, supervision of personnel, and effective management of enrollment management functions.
Demonstrated achievement and outcomes in advancing a diverse, inclusive, and equity-minded environment for students, faculty, student affairs educators, professional staff, and the broader university community.
A disposition for team leadership with executive peers and a proven capacity to lead cross-divisional and/or cross-functional teams to attain strategic outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

Master’s or, ideally, doctoral degree in an appropriate and relevant discipline or field.
Higher education enrollment management experience within a university and a technical or community college.
An ability to navigate shared governance environments and productively work with bargaining units and student governance.
Supervisory experience.

Other Considerations

Ability to set enrollment goals.
Ability to use data effectively in planning, decision-making, and assessment of enrollment strategies and processes.
Ability to provide broad, visionary, collaborative leadership in a complex organizational structure.
Knowledge of contemporary theories and best practices affecting enrollment management.
Commitment to the mission of the University and Technical College.
Commitment to providing quality student services experiences.
Experience with divisional budgeting.
Familiarity with collective bargaining.
Demonstrated commitment to diversity and understanding diverse student populations.
Ability to lead all constituencies through consensus building and collaboration.
Commitment to ethical and decisive leadership.
Strong creative problem-solving skills.
Experience in leading and managing change.

It’s more than a job. It’s an opportunity for the extraordinary.

On the idyllic shores of Lake Bemidji, cradled among the limitless natural beauty of the North Woods and neighbored by Minnesota’s three largest Indigenous nations, Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College offer opportunities for the extraordinary.

Bemidji State University has been ranked as one of the top 30 public institutions in the Midwest region by U.S. News & World Report each year since 2019. BSU offers its diverse student body a comprehensive spectrum of opportunities with nearly 120 undergraduate degrees and emphasis areas in more than 50 areas of study, 14 pre-professional programs, and 14 graduate programs and certificates.

As Bemidji State continues its second century of service, our vision is simple: we educate people to lead inspired lives. To achieve this, BSU centers diversity, equity and inclusion as a core value and strives to create a campus culture in which all members are free to be their authentic selves. BSU also proactively engages with Indigenous communities in northern Minnesota and nationwide toward its goal of becoming a destination university.

Northwest Technical College, one of only three pure technical colleges remaining in Minnesota, helps around 1,000 students align their education with their employment goals. NTC offers more than three dozen certificates, diplomas, and degrees in five career paths. For more than 50 years, NTC has prepared students for fulfilling careers in well-paying, in-demand fields. NTC's accessible, affordable, hands-on programs also help employers meet their ever-growing need for a highly skilled workforce. With an open-enrollment policy and affordable tuition, NTC meets students where they are with a convenient mix of on-campus, online, and hybrid courses.

BSU and NTC are members of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities, the third-largest system of higher education institutions in the United States. The schools share a unique alignment, with administration and student services generally having dual responsibilities to serve both campuses. Through this alignment, NTC students can take advantage of services, support, activities, and opportunities at BSU that expand and enhance their college experience — such as full access to BSU’s library and the ability to live in BSU’s on-campus resident housing.

For the first time, a joint strategic planning process will guide the future directions for both institutions. The schools are pursuing four shared strategic priorities: student success, the Nisidotaading initiative, northern distinction, and telling our story. These priorities will serve as the foundations for master planning processes for facilities, academic programs, fundraising, information technology, intercollegiate athletics, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, among others.

The Nisidotaading initiative — named for an Ojibwe phrase meaning “building mutual understanding” — is creating a statewide center of excellence. It will develop communities of practice meant to help Minnesota State colleges and universities better educate their campus communities on historical trauma and lived experiences of their Indigenous populations, and how to most effectively guide Indigenous students toward their educational goals. In addition, BSU is the first university in the United States to expose all of its students to a course on Indigenous people before graduation.

Bemidji State University acknowledges that it is located on land and water that is the current and ancestral homeland of the Ojibwe and Dakota. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to alienate the Indigenous inhabitants from their territory here. We honor and respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land, retained tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and cultural resilience. Indigenous people are spiritual and physical caretakers of this land to which we all belong. Bemidji State University respects these sacred lands, stands with the community members from these Nations, and will fight injustice in all its forms.

At Minnesota State, the work we do is more than just a job. In their pursuit of purpose, connection, and growth, our employees play a critical role on our campuses. They develop policies, provide essential services, and work to improve the well-being and quality of life for our students and for all Minnesotans. Minnesota State is committed to equity and inclusion, and we invest in our employees by providing benefits, support resources, and training and development opportunities. Unlock your potential through possibility.

The City of Bemidji

Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College lie amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota. Bemidji State occupies a wooded campus along the western shore of Lake Bemidji while Northwest Technical College lies just three miles east, near Bemidji’s robust industrial district.?

The city sits between Minnesota’s three largest American Indian tribal nations: the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the Red Lake Nation and the White Earth Nation. When settling the Bemidji area in 1750, the Ojibwe people named the lake Bemidjigamaag, which means “a lake with crossing waters” as the Mississippi River flows in from the south and exits on the east. Today, a city proper with a population of around 15,000 serves as a regional economic and cultural hub for about 100,000 Minnesotans.

Located just minutes away from a thriving downtown Bemidji, both the BSU and NTC campus communities have convenient access to affordable restaurants, fine-dining experiences, cozy coffee shops, grocery stores — including a natural foods co-op — city parks, and nearly unlimited outdoor recreational opportunities. Small, locally-owned shops and art sculptures line Bemidji's downtown streets, while national chains are also found in and around the area.?The historic Paul Bunyan Playhouse has a calendar of classic shows, restaurants offer weekly live music performances, the First Friday Art Walk provides a tour of new monthly art exhibits, and annual festivals bring the community together throughout the year.?

Additionally, the North Woods setting means students, staff, and faculty have a variety of activities available at their fingertips year-round. With more than 400 lakes — and a 240-acre research forest owned by BSU — within 25 miles of the city, there is easy access to kayaking, canoeing, swimming, boating, paddle boarding, hunting, hiking, biking, foraging, fishing, and more. An expansive network of?multi-use trail systems is available for running, cross-country skiing, single-track or fat-tire biking, and skijoring. Further, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and tubing lie just north of Bemidji at the Buena Vista Ski Area.

Bemidji is also near two of Minnesota’s 66 state parks:?Lake Bemidji State Park, which sits along Lake Bemidji’s northern shore, and Itasca State Park, home to the majestic Mississippi River Headwaters. Both parks are popular recreational and camping destinations where locals and tourists gather for sailing, swimming, and fishing during the summer months, and?skating, hockey, curling, and—yes—more fishing in the winter.?

Of course, no tour of Bemidji is complete without a visit to — and a selfie with — its two most famous residents: the iconic statues of Paul Bunyan and his trusty companion, Babe the Blue Ox. The famed duo, which has greeted visitors to Bemidji since 1937, is on the National Register of Historic Places and was once ranked by Kodak as the second most-photographed statue in America.

For further information about BSU visit http://www.bemidjistate.edu or NTC at https://www.ntcmn.edu.

To Apply

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, please apply by October 22, 2024.

Apply for Vacancy Posting JR0000000608, on our career site: https://minnstate.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Minnesota_State_Careers or at https://minnstate.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/Minnesota_State_Careers/job/Bemidji/Vice-President-of-Enrollment-Management_JR0000000608.

A complete application shall include the following:

A cover letter specifically addressing your qualifications, the core values of student success and DEI at BSU and NTC, and the focus on enhancing value for graduates at BSU and NTC.
Resume / Curriculum Vitae.
Unofficial transcript(s) of all undergraduate and graduate coursework.

Please do not email applications.

If you have questions about this position, please contact:
hr@bemidjistate.edu

If you have questions about submitting an application, contact:
Mary Miller
218-755-2084
mary.miller@bemidjistate.edu