CAREER PREPARATION
Recruiting: Completing the Class of 2025 Collaboration and creativity pay dividends amid pandemic
For the past five years Emily Clevenger has had one job — recruiting the incoming class of students to join the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. With changing University areas of emphasis, policies and procedures, no two of those years have been the same and none was like the past year when a worldwide pandemic prevented on-campus visits (which often represent an unrivaled selling point for Penn State) or much personal interaction. Still, the Class of 2025 came together with nearly 450 students (the typical threshold) thanks to Clevenger’s leadership, collaboration and creativity. At the University level, admissions officials adapted and pivoted, offering flexibility and working to connect with prospective students by any means necessary after on-campus recruiting activities were canceled. Technology and virtual meetings became popular and productive options. “The University did what it could to adapt and pivot,” Clevenger said. “It was a challenging time, but they worked hard and explored many ways to engage with prospective students.” In the Bellisario College, Clevenger sought to do even more, and her collegiality and creativity were vital to a recruiting success story that included many long hours and a variety of different approaches. Without typical summer campus visits by families, the Spend a Summer Day program moved online. Almost all colleges embraced Zoom. The Bellisario College did something different, utilizing its state-of-the-art TV studios and YouTube to produce four live TV shows over two days (two per day) — mirroring the typical on-campus schedule. Cooperation from the strategic communications team allowed pre-produced packages and virtual tours to be part of the shows. Plus, viewers were able to text live questions to Clevenger, which were than answered by her and Gary Abdullah, the assistant dean for diversity and inclusion. “It’s always a team effort,” said Clevenger, who became the Bellisario College’s first recruiter in 2016 after the advising office had handled those efforts for years. “We have so many people who do their jobs well, and they do them 40
2020-21 ANNUAL REPORT
Emily Clevenger and Gary Abdullah cohost a Spend a Summer Day program.
independently, focusing on their own duties and responsibilities. However, when we need to come together, it always comes off seamlessly.” Clevenger’s collaboration and creativity led to several productive recruiting efforts, including: • personal video greetings delivered by email from Dean Marie Hardin to high-achieving students; • postcard greetings, and • individual video meetings by Clevenger with prospective students. In order to complete the Class of 2025, the Bellisario College put together a Bellisario College Signing Day. On the first Monday in May, Clevenger and Abdullah (supported by some deft creativity and production from strategic communications team members Whitney Justice and Paris Palmer) hosted another YouTube-based show that included the names of every member of the incoming class. Every student who had accepted an offer of admission was invited to submit a photo of themselves that was included in the show. A handful of students were featured in brief videos about why they had selected Penn State. Plus, several Penn State varsity coaches (men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky, women’s soccer coach Erica Dambach and women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose) provided welcome videos to the Class of 2025 for a complementary social media effort.
