NEWS

Progress underway on plans to strengthen enrollment

Summer efforts enhance Strategic Enrollment Management plan

| Author: Ari Harris | Media Contact: Aaron Mills

Central Michigan University faculty, staff and administrators spent the summer working on a new Strategic Enrollment Management plan designed to stabilize and grow student enrollment.

First announced as an initiative in President MacKinnon’s First 100 Days address, the SEM plan will be a coordinated set of ideas and initiatives designed to boost enrollment, achieve the institutional mission, and support students’ educational goals. Jennifer DeHaemers, Vice President for Student Recruitment and Retention, and David Patton, Senior Vice Provost for Academic and Curricular Affairs, are co-chairing the effort.

In March, CMU selected SEMWorks, a national consulting firm, to support the university’s efforts, and established a Strategic Enrollment Management Committee to drive the plan’s progress. During the spring semester, SEMWorks president and CEO Jim Black and a team of consultants visited campus, conducted an internal and external review of CMU and its Michigan competitors, and identified potential opportunities and threats faced by CMU and other institutions of higher education.

From these conversations and assessments, Black and his team identified four focus areas for CMU’s Strategic Enrollment Management plan:

  • Increasing market share
  • Identifying a distinctive market position
  • Developing new online programs
  • Focusing on student success

Summer subcommittee work

Once the focus areas were identified, CMU established subcommittees to develop strategies and tactics for each of the four focus areas. Membership in the groups included faculty and staff from across the university. Co-chairs of each subcommittee are noted with asterisks*.

Subcommittee on Market Share

  • Abby Dean*, University Communications
  • Bob Garcia*, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Joe Garrison, Financial Planning and Budgets
  • Kegan Rojas, College of Science and Engineering
  • Tony Larkins, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Sanjay Kumar, College of Business Administration
  • Jeff Angera, College of Education and Human Services
  • Rachael Nelson, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions
  • Cathy Willermet, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Heather Polinsky, College of the Arts and Media
  • Jennifer Schisa, College of Science and Engineering
  • Ling Zhang, Student Recruitment and Retention

Subcommittee on Distinctive Positioning

  • Maria Del Pilar Chouza Calo*, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Ari Harris*, University Communications
  • Harlan Teller, University Communications
  • Patty Young, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Jason Kaufman, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Tracy Glarowicz, College of Science and Engineering
  • Jonathan Russell, College of the Arts and Media
  • Blaine Long, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions
  • Amy McGinnis, College of Business Administration
  • Larry Lemke, College of Science and Engineering
  • Lori Driessnack, College of Business Administration
  • Steve Juris, College of Science and Engineering

Subcommittee on New Online Programs

  • Kaleb Patrick*, CMU Innovation and Online
  • Matt Liesch*, College of Science and Engineering
  • Sarah Kasabian-Larson, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Pete Ross, Curriculum and Instructional Support
  • Pat Kinnicutt, College of Science and Engineering
  • Matt Katz, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Lori Olsen, College of Business Administration
  • Thomas Greitens, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Scott de Brestian, College of the Arts and Media
  • Sarah Marshall, College of Education and Human Services, CMU Innovation and Online
  • James Larson, Student Recruitment and Retention

Subcommittee on Student Success

  • Evan Montague*, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Karen Arthur*, College of Business Administration
  • Shawna Patterson-Stephens, University Engagement and Student Affairs
  • Katie Bollman, CMU Innovation and Online
  • Erica Johnson, University Engagement and Student Affairs
  • Wade Tomson, Student Recruitment and Retention
  • Joshua Smith, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Troy Hicks, College of Education and Human Services
  • Marcy Taylor, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Heidi Mahon, College of Science and Engineering
  • Patty Williamson, Centralis/Honors Program
  • Susan Naeve-Velguth, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions

Next steps for SEM plan

Each of the subcommittees met during the summer and developed strategies and tactics, as well as requirements for success, for each of their goal areas. Over the next few months, these will be shared with senior leaders across the university for review and feedback, DeHaemers said. Initiatives with broad support will be finalized into a plan for presentation to the CMU Board of Trustees in November.

“We look forward to sharing the final plan with you and the entire university community in November, and we will work with the University Transformation Office on its implementation,” said DeHaemers and Patton in a letter to the campus community. “It will truly take all of us, working together, to bring this plan to fruition and to ensure CMU’s enrollment success.”

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