The New School is a dynamic university with a global reach that seeks an innovative leader who will appreciate the distinct nature of this institution and employ both traditional and creative strategies to increase our enrollment effectiveness. The Vice Provost for Enrollment Management (“Vice Provost”) is a senior leader at the university reporting directly to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Vice Provost provides leadership, strategic vision and expertise to attract, select, enroll and retain an exceptionally talented, international, culturally rich, and socioeconomically diverse undergraduate and graduate student body.
The Vice Provost advances leadership in all areas related to enrollment management, including student recruitment, admissions, financial aid, scholarships, and student awards. The position is responsible for articulating, developing and implementing a comprehensive enrollment strategy to achieve The New School’s undergraduate and graduate student enrollment targets, including transfers and international students. The successful candidate offers vision, leverages data and technology, and has deep knowledge of marketing, recruiting, enrollment forecasting, scholarships, and tuition discounting to create enrollment plans that align with the university’s short and long-term goals.
The incumbent leads a divisional staff of approximately 75 employees in a mix of hybrid and on-campus work modes, and promotes best practices and adherence to all regulatory requirements by training, developing and supervising staff in each of the functional areas aforementioned. The Vice Provost is a visionary leader who achieves constant improvements by regularly evaluating department infrastructure and strategies for continual efficiency, effectiveness and customer service improvements. The Vice Provost will oversee the following departments at The New School: undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid, enrollment operations, and enrollment communications.
Collaborating across the university, the Vice Provost will drive enrollment growth while leveraging tuition discounting to create a sustainable fiscal model in a challenging economic environment. The ideal candidate will have substantial expertise in managing large and complex partnerships with third-party suppliers of student search, enrollment and recruiting services. As a senior leader, the Vice Provost is a highly visible partner for academic and administrative colleagues throughout the university, and has a proven and uncompromising commitment to equity, inclusion, social justice, quality service, and student advocacy. This is a transformational role with opportunity for significant impact.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The primary duties and responsibilities for the Vice Provost are as follows:
- Develops, implements, and evaluates all undergraduate and graduate recruitment and enrollment strategies and tactics while working in a collegial environment within the university and the community;
- Successfully achieves new student enrollment goals;
- Leads the financial aid staff to monitor and continually refines financial aid awards that strike a sustainable balance between enrolling students and maximizing net tuition revenue necessary to achieve enrollment goals;
- Ensures compliance to institutional, state and federal guidelines for financial aid awards to new and continuing students at all levels;
- Develops overall departmental budgets and monitors and adjusts budgets as necessary;
- Demonstrates an understanding and in-depth knowledge of market trends, and demographics, as well as, partners with faculty and program leadership to analyze market information for use in developing marketing strategies and tactics for specific programs;
- Develops new strategies for marketing and communication in an effort to strengthen and refine the university’s marketing, recruiting, and outreach efforts to prospective students and families;
- Collaborates with University Marketing and Communications for the creation & coordination of all marketing pieces for the office, including all printed brochures, emails, branding ads, related marketing media, and the Office of Admission & Financial Aid websites;
- Establishes strategic, data-driven enrollment and admission policies and processes that further the strategic plan of the university and enrolls an optimal number and caliber of new and continuing students;
- Works collaboratively to engage the university’s community to inspire a culture of enrollment management and retention;
- Leads, motivates, and empowers a hybrid team of talented and hardworking professionals;
- Embraces and enhances the diversity of The New School’s student body and demonstrates a commitment to equity, inclusion, and social justice;
- Employs data-informed decision-making and uses predictive analytics to measure the effectiveness and optimize operations, policies, and procedures;
- Ensures the compliance with applicable timelines, regulations, and state and federal compliance requirements;
- Partners with the Provost, Executive Deans, and Faculty to solidify current program offerings, capitalizes on growth opportunities, and determines the most effective programmatic delivery methods;
- Support and develop members of the enrollment team as they serve students well and progress in their own professional growth.
Preferred Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree along with ten or more years of progressive responsibility in the area of enrollment management in higher education. It is preferred that candidates possesses a demonstrated success at a senior level in enrollment management at a private university, with a proven track record of:
- Setting and meeting enrollment goals;
- Leading with integrity and transparency;
- Collaborating on idea development and implementation;
- Effectively utilizing outcome-based decision making;
- Advancing cutting edge technology to maximize effectiveness and efficiency.
- Managing a hybrid workforce through clear goal setting and outcomes-based performance evaluations.
The ideal candidate will also be experienced in the areas of enrollment planning, admission and financial aid along with a contemporary knowledge of higher education marketing and trends. This experience must also include demonstrable evidence of creative and analytical problem solving, excellent communication and a customer service oriented approach. Relationship building skills with both internal and external constituents and success in working with a diverse student body is vital as is communicating a clear and consistent portrayal of the complexities of recruitment, admission, yielding and retaining students. The candidate’s track record as a strategic thinker who is comfortable working in a collaborative environment and interested in exploring new and innovative models for higher education is required.
Work Mode
- Hybrid/Split – Employees hired for this position have regularly scheduled, consistent percentage of time on campus (ex 1-4x/week) and also work some of the time remotely.
Salary Range
$300k – $350k
About The New School
Founded in 1919, The New School is a major urban university consisting of five schools and colleges united by a common mission: to inspire and prepare over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to make a positive impact on the world. The university hosts some of the nation’s most esteemed programs in their respective fields, comprising Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School for Social Research, the Schools of Public Engagement, and the College of Performing Arts, which includes three renowned schools: Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama.
Situated in the vibrant heart of New York City, The New School provides an exceptional environment that offers countless opportunities for students and faculty to actively engage in the city’s dynamic life.
The New School offers a diverse array of 126 degree and diploma programs, and in line with its original mission, the university also offers a wide range of certificate programs and hundreds of continuing education courses open to the public. In recent years, The New School has pioneered university-wide interdisciplinary undergraduate degree programs, such as Environmental Studies, Journalism + Design, and Urban Studies, allowing students to leverage the university’s rich faculty and curricular resources while fostering intellectual connections across various schools.
At the core of The New School’s excellence is its exceptional and diverse faculty. The university remains committed to attracting and retaining high-quality faculty members, which includes Pulitzer Prize and GRAMMY winners, MacArthur Genius Grant recipients, and esteemed awardees of Guggenheim and Avery Fisher Prizes. The university’s remarkable student-to-faculty ratio empowers students to work closely with faculty members, fostering active partnerships and offering numerous opportunities to participate in faculty-led projects and research. The New School is an institution dedicated to intellectual growth, social justice, and academic excellence, where students and faculty collaborate to shape a better world.
To learn more about The New School, go to https://www.newschool.edu/.
To Apply
NES, a higher education search firm specializing in enrollment management searches, is assisting The New School in their search for a Vice Provost for Enrollment Management. To arrange for a confidential conversation or to nominate someone for this position, please contact Catherine Capolupo (catherine.capolupo@nessearches.com), Laura Robinson (laura.robinson@nessearches.com) or Mary Napier (mary.napier@nessearches.com). To apply, send 1) a resume, 2) a detailed letter regarding your interest in the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at The New School, and 3) contact information for five professional references by email to newschool@nessearches.com. For best consideration, submit materials by December 15, 2023; the search will remain open until the position is filled. The expected start date will be in the spring of 2024. All applications and nominations will be considered confidential, and notice will be given before references are contacted.
The New School is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and particularly seeks applications from members of underrepresented groups, as well as candidates who share this commitment.