AVP for Enrollment Management

Wagner College, a private comprehensive institution with roots in the liberal arts and professional programs located in New York City, is pleased to announce its search for a newly created Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Enrollment Management role. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Enrollment and Campus Life and overseeing an office of eight admission professionals, the visionary AVP will be a senior leader with a creative and growth mindset for Wagner College’s strategic enrollment and retention strategies. The proactive Assistant Vice President must be innovative and adept at promoting current academic and student-centered programs, as well as bringing forth recommendations for new recruitment and enrollment initiatives, marketing and communication strategies, financial aid leveraging strategies, retention, tuition net revenue strategies, and academic programs that match the college’s mission, resources, and market demand.

RESPONSIBILITIES and PRIORITIES

The expectations for the Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management require that the successful candidate possess the ability and experience to accomplish the following responsibilities and priorities:

• Participate in the development, coordination, and implementation of undergraduate and graduate admissions program including prospect management and strategic planning.
• Represent the college in a professional manner as a member of internal and external committees and professional organizations at local, regional, and national events, programs, and panels.
• Provide leadership, supervision and mentoring of a talented and hardworking team.
• Work closely with the Vice President to set strategy, and ensure each student and family has an outstanding experience at each step of the admissions and enrollment journey.
• Build upon strong, collegial relationships with other campus constituents; collaborate with faculty and deans, student life, athletics, alumni, etc. to develop strategies and engagement of prospective students.
• Possess the ability to generate, analyze, and use reports to make data-driven decisions; provide data-informed guidance for all aspects of student recruitment programs and initiatives.
• Partner with financial aid to implement strategies that support and advance the college’s enrollment goals; understand how to navigate price and institutional aid to impact yield; handle financial appeals.
• Work closely with the communications department to develop a comprehensive and strategic marketing plan and communication flow for prospective students and families and serve as a major partner in the new website development.
• Provide leadership for the retention committee, ensuring that data, communication, and other strategies are in place to ensure the success and retention of our students; and identify trends through data for the senior leadership.
• Possess knowledge of current enrollment issues facing colleges and universities, with demonstrated experience implementing creative ways to address them.
• Identify areas of opportunity and challenge, and partner with campus partners to implement initiatives for moving Wagner forward.
• Provide guidance regarding changing demographics and lead the campus community in understanding the challenges of a highly competitive recruitment environment; while continuing the efforts to increase diversity among our student body.

Qualifications, Qualities, and Characteristics

The successful candidate for the Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management position must have a deep background in enrollment leadership roles; eight to ten years of experience, with increasing responsibility, within a college or university admissions office is required.  A bachelor’s degree is required; and an advanced degree is strongly preferred.  In addition, they should possess: 

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and a flexible and adaptable, growth mind-set working style with an ability to build positive and effective relationships with colleagues and the community.
• Considerable experience in data-driven enrollment operations that result in sustained growth in enrollment, diversity, academic quality, and increased retention and graduation rates.
• Knowledge of and experience with predictive modeling, financial aid leveraging and institutional research in areas pertinent to enrollment management.
• Experience in social media and online marketing initiatives; ability to tell a compelling story that convincingly shares the value of a Wagner education.
• A strong understanding of marketing research skills as it applies to student recruitment.
• Proven ability to recruit, train and motivate personnel in order to encourage a student-centered approach to recruitment and maximize net tuition revenue generation and undergraduate/graduate enrollment growth.
• Experience in enrolling students from traditionally underserved backgrounds, including first generation and those of low socioeconomic status.
• Ability to establish and navigate varying recruitment pipelines and communications sequences appropriately designed for enrolling undergraduate and graduate students.
• Knowledge of enrollment-related technology (Slate experience preferred) and familiarity with an integrated computer system; commitment to the use of technology in order to create a data-driven culture in the admissions process.
• Knowledge of international and transfer market demographics, demands, and trends to help inform recruitment strategy.
• An appreciation for the opportunity to join a warm, engaged, and collegial community and contribute to its success and betterment, immediately and on a long-term basis.
• Integrity, humility, and belief in the value of small, private higher education.

Wagner College 

Wagner College’s beautiful 105-acre campus on Staten Island is home to a close-knit community of 2,200 bright undergraduate and graduate students. Manhattan, with access to high-profile internships and urban adventures, is just a ferry ride away. The college’s nationally recognized academic program, the Wagner Plan, combines learning communities with experiential learning, internships, and research and spans liberal arts disciplines and professional programs. Students graduate with the skills and perspectives employers value. More information on the Wagner College Difference can be found here.

Mission 

Wagner College prepares students for life, as well as for careers, by emphasizing scholarship, achievement, leadership, and citizenship. Wagner offers a comprehensive educational program that is anchored in the liberal arts, experiential and co-curricular learning, interculturalism, interdisciplinary studies, and service to society, and that is cultivated by a faculty dedicated to promoting individual expression, reflective practice, and integrative learning.

Vision 

Wagner College achieves this mission through the integration of practical liberal arts, graduate, and professional programs anchored by a signature undergraduate curriculum. Wagner’s approach combines liberal arts and focused professional programs, coupled with a unique location and the requirement of experiential learning for all students. The goal has been, and continues to be, to provide a transformative college experience which best prepares students for positions of effective and responsible leadership and citizenship in their chosen professions, and in their personal and public lives. From the outset, Wagner faculty have eagerly led this learning-centered endeavor. Preparing students for such leadership requires a coherent, efficient, effective, and universal educational program and a focused faculty and administration, supported by an equally committed board of trustees.

Strategic Plan

Wagner College is in the early stages of a strategic planning process in which the incoming AVP will be a key partner, setting a fresh vision for a future-focused curriculum that is attractive to current and prospective students. The college’s Middle States accreditation self-study, which was completed in fall of 2021, formed an important foundation for this planning process. Under Interim President Angelo Araimo, a well-respected leader with a long tenure at Wagner College, the Wagner College community has expressed optimism and enthusiasm for forging Wagner’s bright future.

Academics 

Wagner College offers both undergraduate and graduate education. Academic departments offer over 30 undergraduate majors and six graduate areas of study and span the following: Humanities, Performing and Visual Arts, Professional Programs, Interdisciplinary Programs, Sciences, and Social Sciences. The college’s Performing Arts majors rank among its most competitive, with a nationally recognized program that connects students to Broadway and draws the Staten Island community to the college through live performances.

Wagner College’s undergraduate curriculum unites deep learning and practical application. The Wagner Plan combines the college’s longstanding commitment to the liberal arts, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary education with the geographical location and enduring bond with New York City. The Wagner Plan includes a liberal arts core program and a major, totaling 36 units/courses.

The Honors Program is designed to stimulate and challenge students intellectually and to give them exceptional academic and co-curricular opportunities to work at a very high level of accomplishment throughout their undergraduate years. The Honors Program is affiliated with the National Collegiate Honors Council.

The college also offers a growing list of graduate programs in six areas: business administration, education, microbiology, nursing, physician assistant, and media management. The college’s Spiro School of Nursing offers graduate and undergraduate programs including a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and advanced post-master’s certificates including Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). The Nicolais School of Business offers a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Science in Accounting. These exclusive programs strive to foster core competencies, cutting-edge technologies, and critical thinking. They remain responsive to the needs of the external community, and in turn provide an innovative, high-caliber graduate education.

Diversity Statement and Guiding Principles

Wagner College is committed to fostering greater diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level of the institution. This requires the building of a community of students, faculty, administration, and staff who reflect the diversity of our society. The college recognizes the educational benefits for all its members that flow from such a community. We acknowledge past and present social inequities and seek to address them. The college encourages inquiry and reasoned dialogue in a climate of mutual respect and openness that enables genuine liberal art and professional education.

To this end, Wagner College is guided by the following principles, which was updated October 4, 2017:

• The college values diversity in all forms — including diversity of age, culture, disability, economic background, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, opinion, political affiliation, race, religious background, sexual orientation, and veteran status.
• The college offers a welcoming and inclusive environment of mutual respect and reciprocity for students, faculty, staff, and community, near and far, of all backgrounds and identities.
• The college provides broad administrative, programmatic, and academic support and resources to achieve its institutional goals for diversity, which is reflected in its recruitment and retention strategies.
• The college commits to a curricular experience that incorporates pedagogical methods that engage students with differing abilities, explores texts from diverse perspectives, promotes intercultural understanding and cultivates inclusive excellence.
• The college prepares students from all backgrounds and identities to live, work and thrive in a global society.

Accolades and Honors

• The New York Times ranked Wagner #6 on a list of the highest “value added” colleges in the nation. Common Sense columnist James B. Stewart worked with Brookings Institution Fellow Jonathan Rockwell on a scale measuring the value added by a college to what its students bring with them to campus.
• Wagner was one of only 50 colleges in the country that was included in an exclusive new guide to best-value schools published by Princeton Review, “Colleges That Create Futures: 50 Schools That Launch Careers by Going Beyond the Classroom.”
• Wagner was ranked among the top 15 percent of northern regional universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Colleges rankings. Wagner was also called a “Best Value” among the 176 top-tier schools in its region.
• Wagner was listed among the top 8% of American colleges and universities for public service in the 2020 Washington Monthly magazine rankings of master’s schools “based on their contribution to the public good.”
• Wagner is certified as a 2021-22 Military Friendly School for its commitment to serving veteran and active-military service members. From its participation in the Yellow Ribbon program, G.I Bill, and additional scholarships, Wagner has become an affordable option for many veterans, active service members, and their families.
• Wagner College’s theater program is consistently ranked among the top five collegiate theaters by Princeton Review, and ranked #3 in 2021.

Location

 Located just 25 minutes from Manhattan, Wagner’s campus setting in Staten Island, New York could easily be mistaken for the rural serenity of a small town hundreds of miles away. Students, faculty and staff take advantage of all Wagner has to offer; from athletic facilities, classrooms, residence halls and lounges, to breathtaking views of the city and signature exteriors.

Wagner's 105-acre hilltop campus provides the perfect surroundings for its campus facilities, from Cunard Hall, the first building (dating to the 1850s) to Wagner’s newest facilities, the Spiro Sports Center and the Foundation Hall residence.

The mixture of building structure and architecture, from modern to collegiate gothic, has attracted television, film and commercial location managers and producers from all over the world. Stepping onto campus, visitors experience a beautiful, residential campus, but when they step off campus they can quickly be enveloped in the bustling metropolis of New York City, full of networking opportunities. It's the best of both worlds.

Staten Island offers an ideal location for Wagner’s campus and abounds with architectural landmarks, beaches and parkland that can be explored. Many reach the borough via the free Staten Island Ferry, an attraction in its own right. Other highlights include shopping at Empire Outlets in St. George and wandering the gorgeous grounds of Snug Harbor and Historic Richmond Town.

To Apply:

Applications, nominations, and inquiries for the position of Assistant Vice President should be directed to Napier Executive Search. To arrange for a confidential conversation, please contact Laura Robinson (laura.robinson@napiersearch.com) or Mary Napier (mary.napier@napiersearch.com).  An application must include a detailed letter of interest, an up-to-date resume, and contact information for three professional references.  For best consideration, submit all application materials by email to: wagner@napiersearch.com by February 24, 2022.  Materials will be reviewed beginning in late February, and the search will remain open until the position is filled. The anticipated start date is Summer 2022. All applications and nominations will be considered confidential, and notice will be given prior to contacting references.

Located in an increasingly diverse metropolitan area, Wagner College is committed to scholarship and community outreach relevant to the needs of New York City. Wagner values campus diversity (domestic and international) and, in keeping with this initiative, welcomes applications from diverse candidates and candidates who support diversity and internationalization efforts.

Wagner College provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal-law requirements, Wagner College complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.