Strategic Enrollment Management works with local high schools to increase enrollment

principals and guidance counselors to improve recruitment.

“Instead of just looking at data like GPA or test scores, we go out and ask high school principals and counselors,” Doughty said. “It’s kind of like a holistic way of looking at students and trying to find the right fit for them.”

Doughty said the College of Liberal Arts and the Romain College of Business are looking for students who are “curious, intellectually adventurous” and have “untapped potential.” sociology and German major, said he has done over 20 tours for the Student Ambassador Organization.

“I always try to establish a genuine connection with the individuals I’m guiding,” Rosignol said. “They’re usually not set on what college they are going to, so it’s important that they have a USI student guide that they feel is approachable. This casual yet approachable connection allows me to connect on a level not all universities do.”

BY IAN YOUNG Staff Writer

Strategic Enrollment Management is working with local high schools to build relationships and communication to increase enrollment. The university’s student enrollment has decreased for the 11th year in a row. Rashad Smith, executive director of Strategic Enrollment Management, said enrollment always starts with people.

“Folks and staff are passionate about this university and want to continue to work toward bringing in new students that are a good fit,” Smith said. “Our ambassadors are committed to making sure that when students and families come to campus, they have a great experience.”

Smith said the university is always working to push direct communication and travel to campus.

“A big part of our tours is that when students have a great experience, they are going to tell others what that experience was like,” Smith said. “We have seen an increase to campus visits from students and families, and we get great reviews from our student surveys. We have even seen an increase of students coming to campus from schools, and we are looking at more ways we can do that.”

Del Doughty, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said representatives from the college are beginning to work with local high school

Sudesh Mujumdar, dean of the Romain College of Business, said the college has made contact with several schools in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation.

Mujumdar said the goal is to build long-term relationships with high schools.

“I talked about building these bonds with high schools early on when I applied for the position as dean,” Mujumdar said. “If we build these bonds early on, maybe they’ll choose us as their partners in their journey to their successful future.”

Mujumbar said improving enrollment numbers is more than making the right advertisement campaign, it is creating the university students want to see.

He said, “If you don’t do the hard work early on, thinking about what value our students want to see, it’s not going to be that meaningful.”

Timothy Rosignol, freshman

Troy Miller, vice president for Strategic Enrollment Management, said building relations with high schools is what every college institution does.

“We coordinated with all of our colleges to build that relationship with high schools,” Miller said. “That’s how we’re recruiting along with the college fair, just coordinating on what we look like and presenting our best self to potential students and their families we are conversing with.”

Miller said enrollment is about relationship building.

“It’s like dating,” Miller said. “The more consistent you are, the more you are engaged with someone. Relationships work both ways, so it will not always be about us going to recruit new students from the community. We can be a service to the community, that way we can build a two-way relationship here that is fundamental to building those relationships.”