TWU dismisses enrolment VP
CONSULTANT WILL REVIEW TWU’S RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES
September 20, 2006
Angela Wiebe
In an effort to help revive a dwindling enrolment rate at Trinity Western University, new President Dr. Jonathan Raymond dismissed Vice President for Enrolment Management Jeff Suderman and hired an outside consultant to review the university’s recruitment strategies.
The decision, made almost immediately after Raymond stepped into his new role, was to help bring the school back to a “firm footing fiscally,” the president noted in an email sent to staff during the summer.
Raymond decided that enrolment management was in need of a “critical turn around” as TWU’s student body has been slowly depleting over the last couple of years. With Suderman gone, Raymond closed the VP position, splitting the role’s duties between the academic and external relations departments.
Vice President for Academics Dennis Jameson will now be in charge of enrolment services and the registrar and Vice President for External Relations Ron Kuehl will oversee recruitment, admissions, and financial aid.
“[Dr. Raymond] talked about that right away,” explained Todd Erickson, Assistant Dean of Academic Administration.
The president’s decision, Erickson noted, came as no surprise to TWU faculty and staff and was celebrated among the school’s professionals.
“The faculty is thrilled,” he said. “They believed [enrolment services] really belonged in the academic enterprise.”
Erickson noted that for most other schools of TWU’s size, the areas of the registrar and enrolment services are connected with the academic department as issues such as transfer credit and course offerings are related to academics.
Most organizations pair those two together, Erickson said, adding that it didn’t make sense for Suderman to be in charge of both those issues and TWU’s recruitment.
Suderman tended to focus more on the “glamorous” role of recruitment, Erickson explained, which sometimes caused enrolment services to suffer.
“It made it difficult for [Suderman] to focus on the behind the scenes stuff,” he said.
To make matters more complicated, Suderman had released Larry VanBeek as registrar last May, leaving the enrolment department to make up for his absence over the past four months.
Erickson said the academic department is now on a “national search” for a new registrar, whom they hope to have in place by January 2007.
In the meantime, all areas of enrolment management are subject to even more change as independent consultant Marilyn Crone reviews TWU’s administration and its recruitment strategy. For the next six months, she will oversee a team as they conduct marketing research including student surveys.
“It’s a bit of a time crunch,” Kuehl said. “The recruiting process has begun for fall 2007.”
The team will try to identify why enrolment has been dropping and also update its marketing message and materials.
“It’s an interesting marketing challenge to get our message out there. We are looking to reinforce the message of [TWU] as a faith-based organization that is focusing on an academic education,” stated Keuhl.
Kuehl also explained that Crone, who was Vice President of Enrolment at Baptist school Baylor University for eight years, understands TWU’s situation as a faith-based and academic institution and will work to promote both aspects of the school.
“She’s ideally suited for the task,” he said.
Overall, Erickson believes Raymond’s decision will hopefully not only draw more students to TWU, but will also give current students a better value for their dollar.
“Students are clients. We’re trying to serve them – that’s what it’s all about.”
Now you go...
One Response to “TWU dismisses enrolment VP”
Got something to say?
So why was Larry Van Beek fired? Does anyone know? I smell inner politicking. Larry did a fine job in all the years I was a student at TWU. His dismissal seems very strange.
Are heads rolling for any good reason, or are they just scapegoats for declining university enrollment? Or the rising Canadian dollar discouraging American students? Or the massive increase in students going to trade schools instead of university? I don’t think it should take the search committee too much effort to figure that out.
When the new strategy is devised, I hope TWU doesn’t focus on the fact it is faith-based over the quality of its educators. World-class professors teaching small classes, now that’s something that really makes TWU stand out. Too many people are at TWU because their parents want to send them to a safe, nice, faith-based insular environment. Instead, the school should celebrate its professors who challenge students to live bold, Christ-like lives in whatever profession they choose. The school should raise up students into Christian leaders who spread the kingdom of God into a world hungry for it.
The school should not sell itself as a glorified youth group where students can get an education, too.