Who’s up for a game of Guess Who?
Otterbein is in the process of filling the vice president for enrollment management position, and for now the identities of the candidates are being kept confidential by the university.
Each of the four candidates is going through a two-day interview process on campus, and their identities will be revealed the day before their individual visits. During these visits, the candidates will meet with administration, faculty and students.
“We’re inviting four finalists to campus. That means that there are three people who do not have to return to the institution they’re currently working for, so issues of confidentiality and anonymity are very important,” Paul Eisenstein, the dean of arts and sciences and the chair of the VPEM search committee, said.
Eisenstein also said that maintaining the candidates’ confidentiality until the visit day will “attract the best possible candidates.”
Otterbein was advised to keep the candidates confidential by Lahti Search Consultants, a firm that specializes in finding candidates for enrollment-related positions at colleges and universities.
Terry Lahti, the principal consultant at Lahti, said that many of the candidates they find for jobs are not currently looking for a job, but the search agency is trying to attract them to a new one. “If candidates know it’s confidential, they can learn more about it without the risk of it being known on (their current) campus,” she said.
She said another reason the company encourages confidentiality is to give candidates enough time to tell their current employer on their own.
In previous years, the university did not choose to keep the candidates for high-level positions confidential. Eisenstein said he does not think this will set a precedent for future high-level hiring processes.
“In the world of enrollment management, highly qualified applicants are much, much sought after,” Eisenstein said. “This seems to me like a very case-specific instance of protecting anonymity.”
Two students weighed in on the situation. Lexie Durham, a freshman global studies major, said, “I think we should probably know more ahead of time so we can have more time to figure out what we think of them. One day doesn’t seem like quite enough.”
Sophomore sports management major Preston Miller took a different view. “It keeps the position open, equal playing ground, fair for all candidates,” he said. “We’ll ultimately get the right person we’re looking for. It’ll make other costs go down if we can get more students here.”
The search committee, comprised of Otterbein administration and faculty members, does not include any student members. According to Eisenstein, students can voice their opinions on a forum that will be accessible on My O-Zone after each candidate visits campus. “That’s the best way to systemize and to get in writing the feedback of as many people as possible,” he said in an email interview.
Students can access information on the process in the “VP for Enrollment Search” tab in My O-Zone. The tab includes an hour-by-hour schedule for the two-day interviews and information on how students can access the candidates during their visits, including an open forum in Roush on the first day of each visit.
Each candidate’s identity, application letter and curriculum vitae will be made available in the “VP for Enrollment Search” tab the day before he or she comes.
The first candidate will visit campus Nov. 21-22, the second Nov. 28-28, the third Nov. 30-Dec. 1 and the final Dec. 5-6.
The VPEM will be responsible for developing innovative enrollment strategies. This means he or she will strategize new ways to attract high-quality students to campus.
The department he or she will oversee is the Office of Enrollment Management, which includes the Office of Admission, the Office of Financial Aid and the Undergraduate Transfer Office.
Ben Shoemaker, the interim director of admission, said the university is looking for someone who can take Otterbein to the next level with enrollment goals.
“As an institution, Otterbein has seen a number of changes over the last few years, and the hope is that the new vice president in conjunction with the campus community will help Otterbein continue to realize its full potential,” Shoemaker said in an email interview.
The previous VPEM, Tom Stein, left Otterbein last April to work for Tusculum College in Tennessee in the same position. In March, Stein said he felt obligated to help Tusculum finish out the school year and that “it was just a good time” for him to start down there.
In addition to Stein’s departure, Cass Johnson, the director of admission at Otterbein since 1980, resigned after her husband, Craig Johnson, the former chair of music at Otterbein, accepted a position at North Park University in Chicago. She left Otterbein in early September and moved to Chicago with her husband.
Before Stein and Johnson left, an interim team of five people was assembled to oversee the Office of Enrollment Management until a new VPEM could be hired.
In October, the Tan & Cardinal reported that enrollment numbers for fall 2011 were down by 89 undergraduate students as compared to fall 2010. Shoemaker said he doesn’t believe this was a result of the unfilled VPEM position.
“I think there’s a lot of different factors contributing to the decline in enrollment,” he said. “The largest concern is the recession, the current economic condition … also because Ohio is currently in the process of a demographic decline,” meaning there were fewer high school graduates last year than the year before.
Keep checking Otterbein360 for more updates on the VPEM search.
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