Vice President for Enrollment Management

SUNY College of Technology at Alfred (Alfred State College), a premier college of technology in the State University of New York system, has launched the search for its next Vice President for Enrollment Management (VPEM). This is an extraordinary opportunity for an experienced and innovative enrollment management professional to join a successful College that is currently experiencing an upward enrollment trajectory. Alfred State College invites applications from leaders committed to sharing Alfred State College’s mission: to deliver outstanding associate and baccalaureate degree programs through hands-on learning, preparing in-demand and involved students in a caring community.

The Position: The Vice President for Enrollment Management reports to the President and provides executive leadership to the Division of Enrollment Management including the offices of Admissions, Student Records & Financial Services (Financial Aid, Student Accounts & Records), and Marketing Communications including Print and Mail Services. The VPEM is the leader for strategy and policies to support the advancement of overall enrollment goals for Alfred State College and collaborates with senior administrators in college-wide strategic planning. This individual represents the College as the primary enrollment management spokesperson within recruitment functions, the campus community, the general public, and SUNY. The VPEM will work jointly with college constituencies to develop a comprehensive enrollment management plan. While meeting enrollment goals is a campus-wide responsibility, the Vice President has the primary responsibility to coordinate and direct the recruitment/enrollment efforts for all new and transfer students entering the College.

Qualifications: The successful candidate will be a team-oriented enrollment management professional with a track record of inspiring leadership, collaboration, and enrollment success. A keen understanding of the role of a college providing high-quality technical education across a two- and four-year applied learning environment is preferable. A history of relationship-building that has resulted in the successful recruitment and retention of a diverse student population is important. The ideal candidate will also exhibit the following qualities and attributes: strong leadership; superior analytical, evaluative, and problem-solving abilities; a history of collaborative, proactive, ethical, and dynamic leadership; demonstrated excellence in interpersonal, management, and decision-making skills; experience with current best practices in enrollment management recruiting, and marketing; marketing, billing, and records functions, and the ability to work productively in shared governance and collective bargaining settings. Areas of preferred experience include determining and awarding financial aid, out of state and international recruitment, and recruitment of non-traditional high school or adult students interested in dual enrollment, online, or microcredential courses and programs. It will also be important for the VPEM to collaborate with other Vice Presidents in areas including but not limited to student orientation, student retention initiatives, grants, and formation of new K-12 and corporate partnerships. Also preferred is a master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution and progressive administrative experience in enrollment management.

The Institution: Established in 1908 by the New York State Legislature, the SUNY College of Technology at Alfred began as a state school of agriculture. Today, Alfred State College is a selective residential institution that offers both two- and four-year degree programs; emphasizes academic excellence; and integrates hands-on applied learning throughout its scientific, technical, and professional programs. Additionally, Alfred State College maintains a commitment to local, national, and global civic engagement opportunities for students that fosters a culture of social responsibility, including nursing students’ mission trips to Haiti and trades students’ rebuilding trips to assist communities that have been devastated by natural disaster. Alfred State College is devoted to fostering meaningful, positive, and long-lasting student learning and success. Students, faculty, staff, and administration embrace the institutional culture, which is built on the core values of respect, integrity, service, and dedication.

Ranking in the top 2.5% of colleges in the U.S. for impacting social mobility and exemplifying a commitment to their slogan of “Hit the Ground Running,” Alfred State College enrolls approximately 3,500 full-time students annually. Approximately 600 teaching faculty and professional staff support over 80 associate and bachelor’s degrees in agriculture, applied technology (skilled trades), architecture, business, digital media, engineering technology, healthcare and allied health, information technology, nursing, veterinary technology, and liberal arts and sciences. Alfred State College is institutionally accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). A multi-campus College, Alfred State College includes a main campus in Alfred, NY, which houses academic programs for the School of Architecture, Management & Engineering Technology and the School of Arts and Sciences, along with residence halls, a production dairy farm, and other support services. Most of the academic programs for the School of Applied Technology reside on the nearby Wellsville campus. The School of Applied Technology Skilled Trades programs offer an Associate of Occupational Science (AOS) degree that includes an intensive hands-on component and block scheduling that places students in the lab/classroom setting for thirty hours each week. Alfred State College also offers AOS degree programs at the Northland Workforce Training Center to provide students with hands-on training at the Buffalo, NY facility.

As a leading educational institution in western New York, Alfred State College plays a critical economic role. Alfred State College is the largest employer in Allegany County, with close to 700 employees. Alfred State College also helps fuel the New York economy by preparing well-trained and highly motivated employees to meet the state’s workforce needs. Alfred State College’s outcomes and success are demonstrable with a history of strong enrollment, retention, and a placement or transfer rate at or above 98% among graduates in each of the past 11 years. For more information about Alfred State College, please visit www.alfredstate.edu.

Location: Alfred, New York, home to Alfred State College, is located in Allegany County in the scenic Southern Tier of New York. Nestled between the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains and the Finger Lakes region, Alfred is 70 miles south of Rochester and 90 miles southeast of Buffalo. Allegany County’s pristine lakes and streams, abundant wildlife, woodland trails, and scenic countryside offer extensive possibilities to nature lovers, photographers, and sportspersons. There are many opportunities for hiking, biking, skiing, and kayaking. The county has 23 state forests and more than 56,000 acres of public land. Alfred is a center of higher education in western New York, home to both Alfred State College and Alfred University, a private university that offers a full range of liberal arts and science majors and includes the New York State College of Ceramics. Other academic institutions in the local area include Houghton College and St. Bonaventure University. In addition to excellent school systems, the immediate area also maintains two hospitals within ten miles, both affiliate of and supported by the University of Rochester Medical Center, a renowned quaternary Medical Center.

About SUNY: The State University of New York system is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers with each having a medical school, three hospitals, two dental schools, the state’s only college of optometry and college of maritime studies, as well as one U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.3 million students in credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide were more than $1.0 billion in fiscal year 2020, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. SUNY’s leadership structure consists of a Board of Trustees, led by Dr. Merryl H. Tisch; Chancellor John B. King, Jr.; System Administration Senior Staff; and Campus Presidents, each working together to advance the mission of the state university system: “…to provide to the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population in a complete range of academic, professional and vocational postsecondary programs including such additional activities in pursuit of these objectives as are necessary or customary.”

Application: Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to RPA Inc. at AlfredStateVPEM@rpainc.org. For a confidential discussion about this opportunity or to make a nomination, please contact Dana John Cohick, President, at the email address listed above. The first review of candidates will begin on April 19, 2023, and first-round interviews will commence thereafter.