May 25, 2007
Enrollment management finalists to visit campus
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Four finalists seeking to become assistant vice chancellor for enrollment management at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will visit campus in the next few weeks.
The candidates are Steven Klein, who will visit campus May 29-30; Don Kajcienski, scheduled for June 7-8; Leon "Dean" Fisher, who will visit June 11-12; and Victoria Valle, due on campus June 13-14.
All four candidates will make a presentation during an open forum on the topic, "Elements of a Successful Enrollment Management Program." They will also meet with the interim assistant vice chancellor for enrollment management; other University administration officials; directors and staff of the offices of financial aid, records and registration, undergraduate admissions and new student programs; and academic and enrollment advisers.
Klein's presentation and open forum is at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29, in the Brown Auditorium of the Parkinson Laboratory building.
The basic goals for enrollment management are attracting and retaining students. The assistant vice chancellor position reports to the provost/vice chancellor and oversees the directors of new student programs, undergraduate admissions, financial aid and records and registration.
Here's a look at the candidates:
• Klein is vice president of enrollment and marketing for the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, a position he has held since 2006. He has served in similar capacities at Medaille College in Buffalo, N.Y., and Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He was dean of enrollment management at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., and assistant vice president for enrollment at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.
He began his professional career at California State University as a financial aid officer in 1976 before going to Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., as the director of financial aid in 1983. He has also worked in leadership positions in financial aid for Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education and the University of Maine. Klein earned a master of public administration degree from California State University in 1977. He earned a bachelor's degree with a major in history there in 1975.
Among his professional accomplishments, he lists improving enrollment at The Citadel by as much as 20 percent by improving communication with potential students through an enhanced database. First-year retention at Medaille College improved by 16 percent during his tenure through implementation of a recruitment and retention program incorporating financial aid with registration and admissions. He has acted as a consultant in enrollment management since 1994.
• Kajcienski was vice president of marketing and enrollment services for Cleary University in Ann Arbor, Mich., before heading to the University of Nevada in Las Vegas to earn a doctoral degree in education. At Cleary, his position required supervision of admissions, financial aid, marketing communication and research and relevant information technology. He had similar responsibilities at California State University in San Bernardino, where he was associate vice president of enrollment services. He was also director of admissions for Eastern Michigan University and Mercy College of Detroit, and project coordinator for the Michigan Health Council.
Kajcienski began his career in the private sector. He worked as a marketing representative for Kellogg Cereal Co. in Battle Creek, Mich. From 1991 to 1998, he headed-up Don Kajcienski and Associates, an enrollment management consulting company for higher education that included strategic planning, diagnostic analysis of enrollment efforts and recruiting tactics. He earned a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit.
• Fisher is associate vice president for enrollment management at Rose State College in Midwest City, Okla, a position he began in 2004. Fisher has been with Rose State College since 1987, when he came on board as assistant director of student financial aid. He has since served as associate registrar and associate director of admissions, director of student financial aid and student conduct, and dean of enrollment management. He began the administrative part of his career with the Oklahoma Student Loan Program in Oklahoma City in 1982 as a loan analyst. Fisher also has teaching experience. He has been an adjunct professor of history and the humanities at Rose State College since 1990 and is also an adjunct professor of humanities and philosophy at the University of Central Oklahoma, a position he has held since 2004.
Fisher is a doctoral student in the College of Education at the University of Oklahoma, where he has completed the general exam and is "all but dissertation completed." His master's and bachelor's of arts degrees, both in history, are from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1987 and 1982, respectively. He earned an associate in arts, general studies, from Rose State College in 1982. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Student Financial Aid and the Student Aid Transcript. He also chairs a financial aid appeals committee, and has lectured on issues such as multiculturalism in the curriculum, concurrent enrollment for high school students and residency classification.
• Valle served as vice president of enrollment management and student affairs at the San Francisco Art Institute from 2005 to 2006 and as associate vice president for student affairs-enrollment management at California State University Sacramento from 2003 to 2005. She was dean of admissions and financial aid at Elmhurst College, director of undergraduate admission at Loyola University-Chicago, and director of admission and orientation services at Spelman College.
She also served as director of student outreach and recruitment at the University of California-San Diego, and director of minority admissions and community affairs at Pennsylvania State University. She began her career as an admissions adviser at the University of Missouri in 1972. She has worked at Southern Illinois University before, but at the Edwardsville campus as coordinator for school and university relations, a position she held from 1974 to 1983.
Valle earned a master of arts degree in management from Webster University in St. Louis, and she held a CORO Fellowship in Urban Affairs at the Midwestern Training Center in St. Louis. Her bachelor of arts degree in English is from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. She has lectured on affirmative action, ethical issues in admissions and recruiting and recruiting technology.