Beloit College seeks an effective and creative team leader for admission and student financial planning as its next Vice President for Enrollment. Reporting to President Eric Boynton, the Vice President for Enrollment will be an active, collaborative member of the college’s senior leadership team. The Vice President works closely with colleagues in communications and marketing, finance and planning, and advancement and alumni, as well as academic affairs, athletics and student life, and will build on the trust and camaraderie of the community in moving Beloit College forward and increasing enrollment. The college is poised for further success and seeks an outstanding and effective Vice President to lead the charge of strategic oversight in admissions and financial aid that will bolster the recruitment of students who will thrive and persist.
OPPORTUNITIES, PRIORITIES, EXPECTATIONS
The top priority will be meeting and exceeding enrollment and net-tuition revenue goals that exemplify the college’s mission and business goals. Further success for the Vice President for Enrollment will be determined through a strong vision, effective leadership, and the ability to establish strategic partnerships with the President, senior staff, college departments and programs, and the Board of Trustees.
The Vice President should be a strategic leader who offers energy and confidence with the expertise to:
Develop and implement a strategic enrollment management vision and plan that the community understands, embraces, and supports. Create and execute plans to achieve long- and short-term goals for enrollment that are mission-driven while enhancing the college’s financial health. Continue to craft and implement a strategic plan that increases enrollment incrementally to reach Beloit’s goal of a steady enrollment of 1,200 students. Offer an innovative approach to recruiting and retaining first-year domestic, transfer students, and international students. Continue national recruitment of domestic students while also purposefully concentrating on local and regional markets. Engage Beloit internal partners to include faculty, coaches, staff, alumni and students in recruitment and outreach efforts. Communicate with enrollment goals and realistic outcomes transparently to the broader Beloit community to encourage their active engagement.
Partner and actively engage in the well-being of Beloit College. Be an active member of the College’s senior leadership team, reporting directly to the President and presenting creative and innovative ideas to increase enrollment and move the College forward. Interact with the senior leadership team in proactively keeping the College informed and current in practices that will enhance the life and education of students. Report to the Board of Trustees all pertinent enrollment data, strategic planning, and outcomes. Seek intimate knowledge of academic programs and promote the unique qualities of a Beloit education.
Provide realistic and empathetic leadership to an energetic, eager admissions staff. Engage senior admissions staff in developing enrollment tactics that support the College’s strategic direction. Delegate responsibilities appropriately for successful office operations and management, while providing both support and autonomy for individual growth. Support the admissions team’s recruitment work with clear and transparent communication of goals and a stated understanding of their work’s importance. In collaboration with the Director of Admissions, provide tools and training for staff success. Ensure staff development with professional guidance.
Provide ethical and forward-thinking practices in developing financial aid policies and leading the Office of Financial Aid. Marshal the appropriate expertise to take full advantage of the most effective predictive enrollment and financial aid models that promote outcomes consistent with the college’s mission and dependence on net-tuition revenue. Promote using data and analysis in making decisions about enhancing student quality, retention, and net-tuition revenue. Supervise the Director of Financial Aid and oversee the operations of financial aid with an understanding of the role’s dotted line to the Vice President for Finance & Planning for compliance focus, and for unified financial services. Collaborate fully with the VP for Finance & Planning on financial aid issues, discount rate, and achieving the institution’s net-tuition revenue goals.
Be an essential partner with the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer and the Provost to enhance the college’s reputation and market position. Work closely and collaboratively to develop an enrollment marketing plan focused on achieving enrollment goals, enhancing Beloit’s national and international visibility and telling the fascinating stories of Beloiters. With a clear understanding of a liberal arts education, be able to articulate and communicate the transformative value of a liberal arts education and the purposeful approach to career opportunities. Ensure that the enrollment team is ready to deliver on all critical college-level messaging.
Enhance the Enrollment Management division’s use of Slate, PowerFAIDS, and Jenzabar for greater strategic and tactical benefit. Collect and use data that informs enrollment and the rest of the campus community, about essential elements of measuring success.
Continue to educate a supportive and sophisticated college community on best practices in enrollment management. Guide campus-wide discussions regarding the intersection of student quality, diversity, athletics, financial aid, admissions and retention. Listen, analyze and help identify common goals and desires for the College and trade-offs that may be necessary to achieve them.
Capitalize on the advantages inherent in Beloit’s membership in the Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL), the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), and other consortia. Continue to publicize and promote among prospective students and their families the distinctions and benefits of these affiliations.
Aggressively seek out opportunities to showcase Beloit College through speaking engagements, published articles, blogging, media appearances, attending local, regional and national alumni and community events, and through other means of outreach that have the potential to enhance the college’s visibility, reputation and goodwill. In addition, strengthen relationships with key external partners to include secondary and independent counselors, community-based organizations, community college colleagues and international counselors.
Continually assess and strengthen the enrollment programs and operations. Ensure that the enrollment program is guided by the profession’s ethical standards and enhances the reputation of Beloit College and its students’ well-being.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
The Vice President for Enrollment must be a consummate professional who embraces a team environment and works with colleagues in the spirit of partnership and transparency. The ideal candidate will also be bold and decisive; politically astute; resilient and resourceful; and ambitious for the College. The College seeks candidates with the following qualities:
- Proven leadership skills, exhibiting honesty, integrity, and ethical leadership;
- Innovative ideas and bold approaches to enrollment that include forward-thinking best practices;
- Inspirational, creative thought partner and manager who is approachable, present, and involved;
- Mature understanding of the connection between a liberal arts college business model and its educational model;
- Ability to articulate the purposeful approach to professions and careers through the liberal arts;
- Outstanding interpersonal skills and the ability to interact effectively with diverse constituents;
- Strong commitment to access and inclusion, embracing the value in diversity;
- Knowledge of enrollment and financial aid data systems, technology and research;
- Excellent oral and written communication skills;
- Strong supervisory and mentoring skills with experience in building, developing and motivating staff and volunteers;
- Fluent in issues related to transfer student recruitment and international student recruitment;
- With the president, build an appreciation of NCAA Division III student athletes and coaches and the value athletics offers to a residential campus with a strong collaborative approach to recruitment;
- Understanding of Beloit’s mission and its model of residential liberal education, and ease in articulating its value and its distinctiveness;
- Ability and willingness to play an active role in the life of the college;
- Confident to take risks, manage those risks, and measure results;
- Possess a sense of urgency, a sense of humor, and a commitment to the College’s mission;
- Balanced approach to the art and science of enrollment practices, combining both a personalized approach to student recruitment informed by data analytics;
- Talent for guiding and developing relationships with secondary school and independent counselors, community based organizations, and other external influencers of prospective students;
- Facility with using data strategically and with finesse;
- At least ten years of progressively responsible and successful experience in higher education enrollment-related areas; Bachelor’s degree is required and an advanced degree preferred.
BELOIT COLLEGE
To be sure, small colleges are presently facing many challenges, and I took this job because I believe in our staff and faculty to face down those challenges and deliver a high caliber learning experience that will equip our students to flourish in this complex global environment….I’m excited to see what we can all accomplish together. Look, we’re in the business of creating human potential. We’re here to transform lives. Without a question, a Beloit education is the best kind of preparation for the world students are inheriting today, and we’ll lead the national conversation about what it means to thrive as a small college in the 21st century.
-Newly appointed President Eric Boynton, May 2023
Beloit College is known for its innovative liberal arts programs that meet the needs of the moment. Beloit students are curious, courageous, and entrepreneurial, and learn to lead, and to build a future that works for everyone. Beloit’s key differentiator among liberal arts colleges is a personalized, student-centric approach, rooted in deep student-faculty and student-staff relationships that leave a lasting imprint. With an emphasis on learning by doing, Beloit graduates are well prepared and passionate about their futures, connected to the college and each other for a lifetime.
Beloit earns its designation as a college that changes lives. Nearly 1,000 students from 44 U.S. states and 43 countries converge to experiment, learn, live, practice and collaborate, spurred on through their relationships with one another and a creative and committed faculty, staff, and alumni community. Beloit’s focus on graduating resourceful students ready to bring multiple perspectives to solve problems in a complex world has deep roots. Starting with the Beloit Plan in the early 1960’s and evolving into the Career Channels program and Impact Beloit, the college has an impressive legacy of deepening and strengthening learning through experience. Faculty advisors revel in their instrumental roles in students’ lives, tailoring their support and advice to them as individuals.
Beloit is known for its tight-knit residential community and its residents’ sense of belonging, an atmosphere where students build confidence as they begin their transformations. The campus is an inspiring proving ground where principled non-conformists celebrate creativity and unconventional thinking.
From the time the college opened its doors in 1846, before Wisconsin became a state, Beloit’s future was intertwined with its eponymous city. The founders, who came west from Yale to the Midwestern frontier, collaborated with Beloit residents who supported a college in their burgeoning village. Today, the mutual partnerships between city and college have never been stronger and the city’s remarkable renaissance complements the college.
When the global pandemic of 2020 presented a challenge like no other, Beloit administrators and student leaders drew strength from the College’s pioneering spirit and found ways to navigate through extraordinary difficulties. In response to the pandemic, the College was the first in the nation to announce its plans to ensure a safe return to campus, dividing each semester into two mods should the pandemic take hold on campus. It never did. The plan also broadened career readiness initiatives. Meanwhile, student leaders stepped up with a Statement of Culture in which they owned the well-being of their campus community.
Against headwinds and uncertainty in higher education, especially liberal arts colleges, Beloit is differentiating itself in the marketplace by empowering students to be ready for careers through mentoring by talented faculty and staff who integrate their work through the entire student experience. Even before President Boynton took the reins as president, he convened five groups of faculty, staff, and trustees to create action plans specific to five areas: Enrollment, Academic Programs and Partnerships, Budget, Student Experience, and Space-Use.
One product of that effort is that later this academic year, the College will launch two schools (the School of Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship and the School of Health Sciences) to demonstrate to families and prospective students just how intentionally a Beloit education illuminates the pathway from college to career.
Leadership
Eric Boynton became Beloit’s 12th president in July 2023, following nearly four years of forward-thinking leadership in his role as the Provost and Dean of the College, the College’s chief academic officer.
President Boynton is an innovator and change expert with more than two decades in higher education and nearly 15 years of leadership experience. He joined Beloit in 2019 and helped the college attract national recognition for its strategic initiatives broadening college-to-career pathways and putting teaching and mentoring first. He worked with faculty and staff to integrate career preparedness into every aspect of students’ liberal arts experiences, including creating Career Channels that help students learn about various career paths while being connected with alumni who share their professional interests.
Known for his energy, bold ideas, and collaborative leadership, Boynton was a critical force in establishing Impact Beloit, the student career hub that will embrace regional community partnerships. Impact Beloit will open in fall 2024 in the college’s Morse Library after a $9 million grant-funded renovation.
Boynton was integral in steering the college through the pandemic, leading the implementation of a proactive, modular course structure and expediting students’ safe return to campus classrooms in the fall of 2020. This work gained national attention, positioning the College among its peers as a leader and doer in higher education. He also was a member of the College’s anti-racist liaison team, which has created a roadmap for equity and inclusion called Becoming Better.
Boynton frequently speaks at national higher education conferences on organizational change, supporting students’ career readiness, and holistic leadership in challenging times. He has co-edited three books and written and presented numerous scholarly papers. Boynton is often featured in the national and statewide media talking about the challenges of higher education, and the opportunities for solutions. He has mentored chief academic officers through the Council of Independent Colleges and is on the Associated Colleges of the Midwest executive board.
The selected Vice President for Enrollment will join Dr. Boynton’s senior leadership team, also consisting of:
- Chief of Staff & Secretary of the College
- Provost and Dean of the College
- Chief Communications & Marketing Officer
- Dean of Students & Chief Diversity Officer
- Vice President for Human Resources & Operations
- Vice President for Advancement
- Vice President for Finance and Planning/Treasurer
- Vice President for Career and Professional Development
- Senior Director of Strategic Research and Initiatives
- Associate Provost
Beloit’s shared governance structure involves all segments of the community in decisions affecting their welfare and the well-being of the institution. Two groups’ roles are noteworthy. Faculty members, through the Academic Senate’s standing and special committees, exercise major legislative responsibility for assuring the quality of the academic program and the academic vitality and professional competence of those within its own ranks. Beloit is also committed to student representation, in administrative decision-making processes, based on the conviction that the college is better served by genuine and responsible student involvement. Students who serve as academic senators, on major search committees, and other administrative committees are called upon to represent the best interests of their peers and to act on behalf of the college’s welfare.
Beloit College is overseen by an expanding Board of Trustees that now stands at thirty-one, and recognizes two Life Trustee members.
Academics & Co-Curricular Opportunities
With 40+ majors and minors to pursue, Beloit students acquire depth and breadth of knowledge, plus transformative skills and practices that explicitly link their experiences with their futures. Every major and minor puts students on a path of purpose and lifelong learning. Along with deep knowledge, Beloit students graduate with the core skills most attractive to employers, in the form of integrated learning outcomes. Beloiters learn to be effective communicators, creative problem solvers, productive collaborators, and intellectually and professionally agile.
Beloit College is a leader in connecting a liberal arts education with faculty-led mentoring and career preparation throughout the entire student experience, inside and outside the classroom. Faculty and staff collaborate closely with one another and with students. Through programs like Career Channels, which help students align their passions with their purpose. Career Works also helps students navigate their pathways, from connecting with a Career Channel to pursuing an internship or a post-graduate job. Career Works assists students develop and tell the story of what they can do and why, so that employers and graduate programs take notice.
Beloit’s entrepreneurship center, CELEB, is another example of the learn-by-doing mindset, offering students unparalleled opportunities, such as the chance to manage a student art gallery, create something new in its maker lab, and develop skills and insights to start their own business, to name a few.
Impact Beloit is the college’s newest venture, centralizing and enhancing its experiential programs, community-based learning, and career readiness capabilities to benefit students. Through Impact Beloit, the College is building out a more robust and direct pathway from Career Channels to alumni and jobs while building strong connections to the Beloit community.
Beloit College offers students an exceptional array of opportunities to study off-campus in countries across the world as well as domestically. Beloit students regularly conduct advanced research, run service projects, start businesses and organizations, take internships and field terms, do community outreach, produce plays and exhibits and events—on campus and around the world. These experiences, combined with academic rigor, provide a platform for meaningful jobs, graduate and professional studies, and rewarding lives.
Beloit is ever-adapting, and is currently focused on aligning curriculum to labor markets through the development of schools, beginning with Schools of Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship and Health Sciences. The college is building certificate programs, including in finance and health management. In addition, plans for a phased introduction of other schools are in the discussion stages. Feeling the effects of an increasingly uncertain higher education market, Beloit College engaged its faculty, staff, and trustees during the summer in a highly collaborative, focused effort to fortify the college’s financial footing through change. The result is a multi-year plan by Beloiters for Beloiters that protects the fundamental DNA of the college and sets a path for an expertly tailored student experience.
“We are working to create a college that resonates with students and families. A liberal arts education is the best preparation for the real world.” – President Eric Boynton
Affiliations
Beloit College is a founding member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious academic consortiums. The member colleges– Beloit, Carleton, Coe, Colorado, Cornell, Grinnell, Knox, Lake Forest, Lawrence, Luther, Macalester, Monmouth, Ripon and St. Olaf—are highly respected liberal arts colleges that draw upon their combined resources to provide students and faculty ready access to a wealth of internship, undergraduate research, and off-campus study opportunities. In addition, Beloit is a proud member of Colleges That Change Lives, a collection of 44 liberal arts colleges “dedicated to the advancement and support of a student-centered college search process.”
Enrollment and Financial Aid
Beloit is realistic about the significant headwinds facing higher education, and liberal arts colleges in particular. At its core, the college’s strategic plan addresses increasing strategic enrollment and student retention through stronger positioning, admissions and marketing strategies, strategic resource allocation,and fundraising.
Beloit College is #1 in the most diverse student population in Wisconsin. Out of nearly 1,000 students, the student body is made up of 14 percent international students, 18 percent Hispanic/Latinx, 11 percent Black/African American, 33 percent domestic BIPOC students, 23 percent first-generation students, and 30 percent Pell Grant recipients. Beloit is “test optional” in its admission practices with approximately 11 percent of applicants submitting the results of the SAT and 13 percent of applicants submitting the results of the ACT.
Beloit College is often cited as a “Best Value” in higher education and offers both need-based aid and merit scholarships. The average institutional gift aid for first-time first-year students with financial need entering in the fall of 2023 was $44,476. Students have the opportunity to receive over $45,000 in merit scholarships.
Equity
Beloit is forthright in its aspirations to become a more diverse and equitable place to live and learn and to stand up against racism. Becoming Better is the college’s initiative which centers that work around measurable goals: to hire and retain more faculty, staff, and trustees of color; to ensure all students, faculty, and staff engage with issues of race, sex, power, privilege, anti-racism, and anti-Blackness; to expand safe, inclusive spaces for our Black students; and to resist injustice through sound processes that address biased, racist, and discriminatory acts and that include accountability measures and restorative justice practices.
Students & Campus Life
Beloit students are distinguished by a commitment to independent thought, a concern for the common good, and a passionate, critical engagement with the world. Typically, 96 percent of students live on campus, with a three year on campus residence required. Housing choices expand for students as they progress at Beloit, including traditional residence halls, seventeen special interest houses, Greek houses on College Avenue, and upper-level student housing in dorms, apartments and townhouses. With the variety of housing and dining options and co-curricular offerings available to students, life at Beloit College promotes a genuine living-learning experience that welcomes freedom of thought, social interaction and community involvement. Beloit College offers more than 100 student-run clubs, organizations, and honor societies.
The College fields 18 NCAA Division III teams in the Midwest Conference. In any given season, more than 30 percent of the student population is involved in intercollegiate athletics and Beloit’s student athletes consistently receive Academic All-American honors. A complete listing of intercollegiate sports can be found at https://www.beloit.edu/bucs/. Club, intramural and recreational sports round out the athletic offerings that are available to students.
The Powerhouse, a first-of-its-kind facility in the country, is a former power plant that is now an award-winning, Silver LEED-certified green student center for recreation and health. Located right on the Rock River, this 120,000-square-foot facility features a cafe, theater, classrooms, and meeting spaces, along with a running track, eight-lane competition swimming pool, and plenty of other areas to work out, study, and socialize.
For more information about Beloit College, go to https://www.beloit.edu/
BELOIT, WISCONSIN
Beloit College is the center of the College-Park Historic District on the City of Beloit’s east side, which includes period residences and Horace White Park, the city’s first town square. The city of Beloit’s vibrant downtown is two blocks from campus, home to multiple businesses, boutiques, restaurants, and over 200 community partners that welcome students as interns and employees.
The historic city of Beloit is home to 37,000 residents as well as more than 88 industrial firms, 850 retail establishments, several corporate headquarters (Kerry Americas, ABC Supply, and Regal, among others), an Oakland Athletics-affiliated minor league baseball team, and several museums. Beloit is an easy drive to three diverse and thriving cities: Madison (50 miles), Milwaukee (70 miles), and Chicago (90 miles). In fact, O’Hare airport is just an 80 minute drive from Beloit College and there is hourly commercial bus service.
An ethnically rich community, Beloit’s population is uncharacteristically diverse given its size and location. Beloit’s residents are 67 percent Caucasian, 15 percent African-American, 17 percent Hispanic/Latino, and one percent Asian- American.
Beloit is also a culturally diverse community with an expansive community calendar that is filled with live music offerings and festivals, popular arts programming, large seasonal and holiday events, and a Farmer’s Market that fills the downtown district each Saturday morning in the summer and early fall. In addition to the college’s Wright Museum of Art and the internationally acclaimed Logan Museum of Anthropology, Beloit also is the home to a downtown Fine Arts Incubator, numerous historic homesteads and mills, an expansive park system, and signature programs and events including the Beloit International Film Festival and the Beloit-Janesville Symphony. Beloit has become a dining destination for the region and a showcase for boutique hotels in its downtown.
More information regarding Beloit, Wisconsin can be found at https://visitbeloit.com/ and https://downtownbeloit.com/us/.
TO APPLY
NES is assisting Beloit College with this search for a Vice President for Enrollment. If you wish to have a confidential conversation about this opportunity or nominate someone for this position, contact: Robin Reynders, (robin.reynders@nessearches.com), Laura Robinson (laura.robinson@nessearches.com) or Mary Napier, (mary.napier@nessearches.com). To apply, please submit a resume, letter of interest, and five professional references to beloit@nessearches.com. Applications will be reviewed as they are received and will continue to be considered until the position is filled. For best consideration, submit materials by November 10, 2023. Expected start date is early Winter, 2024.
For more information about Beloit College, visit http://www.beloit.edu.
For information regarding salary range and benefits, please contact one of the NES search consultants.
Because equity and inclusion are central to our students’ liberal education and vital to the thriving of all members of our residential learning community, Beloit College aspires to be an actively anti-racist institution. We recognize our aspiration as ongoing and institution-wide, involving collective commitment and accountability. We welcome employees who are committed to and will actively contribute to our efforts to celebrate our cultural and intellectual richness and be resolute in advancing inclusion and equity. We encourage all interested individuals meeting the criteria of the described position to apply.
Beloit College seeks to accommodate all people with varying abilities. If you receive a request for an interview and require auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations for the interview, please communicate that to search representatives at beloit@russellreynolds.com.