The Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) has cast a new vision and transformed its strategy and approach to student engagement and customer service. The Division is being restructured, and a strategic enrollment planning and management approach is being implemented. The goal of the restructuring is to pave the way for a brighter future for students, filled with opportunities and success.
“The Division’s success requires clearly defined and disciplined execution of multiple functions critical to students’ engagement and success,” says Dr. Moses V. Goldmon, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Success. Goldmon, the catalyst for the new vision, was hired to lead the division in October 2022. The Division includes the Offices of Recruitment, Admissions, Financial Aid, Strategic Communications and Analytics, the Student Success Center, and the LIONS Program. The LIONS program is a summer residential academic enrichment experience that assists first-year students to successfully transition from high school and home to college life.
Over the past decade, UAPB’s average enrollment was 2,540. However, the year-to-year total has been like a roller coaster, with peaks in 2016 and 2020 and lower points in the past two years. This fluctuation in enrollment highlights the need for a more strategic approach. The new vision and strategy will foster and sustain enrollment growth that reaches the institution’s overall student capacity. Early signs indicate a pathway to success. To date, UAPB has received the highest number of applications in the past five years. “Based on data and communication with stakeholders it looks and feels that we will experience an enrollment increase in Fall 2024,” said UAPB Chancellor Laurence B. Alexander.
Leadership Team Announcements
“The gist of the restructuring is the creation of two assistant vice chancellor positions,” Goldmon explains. “Enrollment Management and Student Success is a large division with many moving parts. Assembling the right leadership team is at the heart of the Division’s strategic approach to meeting unprecedented trends and adaptive challenges in higher education.”
The leadership team changes include the promotion of Rita Conley to Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement and Success, the hiring of Christopher Riggins as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management, and Clarence Paul Person as Director of the Office of Recruitment. Each highlighted role is crucial to the Division’s mission and is a driver toward success.
Rita Conley, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement and Success
Conley has been employed at UAPB since 2005. She has served in various capacities, including the School of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Human Sciences as an Extension Family Resource Management Specialist and Instructor and an academic instructor in the Departments of Agriculture and Human Sciences. She has written, been awarded, and managed numerous grants and projects, procuring over a million dollars to support youth development, agricultural education, and agricultural research, as well as student engagement and success.
In July 2015, she was appointed UAPB’s first-ever Director of the Student Success Center. In that role, she has contributed significantly to UAPB’s successful quest to improve retention and graduation rates. Goldmon said, “Mrs. Conley’s productivity and professionalism were immediately apparent upon my arrival at UAPB. Her work ethic, intellect, and campus-wide relationships will enable her to make an even greater impact on student success in the future.”
In her new role, Conley’s expanded responsibilities are to assist in the development and execution of strategies to foster increased collaboration across the university and ensure seamless communication, and optimized policies, procedures, and strategies that help the Division establish and meet clear short-and long-term enrollment goals.
Christopher Riggins, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management
In January 2024, Mr. Christopher Riggins joined the team as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management. He will oversee the daily operations of the Offices of Recruitment and Admissions. He is also responsible for all on-campus enrollment management activities such as high school days, Lion Fever Day, campus visits and tours, and New Student Orientation. Riggins possesses 23 years of progressive enrollment management experience.
Before coming to UAPB, Mr. Riggins served as Assistant Director of Transfer Recruitment and Interim Director of Admissions and Recruitment at the University of Central Arkansas. Throughout his career, he has promoted and increased student enrollment and implemented programs that have led to student success. He has extensive professional experience in recruitment and admissions, scholarship coordination, new student orientation, student success, strategic planning, and budget management.
Clarence Persons, Director, Office of Recruitment
In addition to the two new Assistant Vice Chancellors, Mr. Clarence Paul Person was named Director of the Office of Recruitment in December 2023. An accomplished professional with 16 years of experience, Mr. Person has successfully led high-performing teams in identifying, attracting, and onboarding top-tier students from across the country. Mr. Person came to UAPB from Philander Smith University. His expertise lies in developing and executing innovative recruitment strategies that align with UAPB’s mission, resulting in the recruitment and enrollment of a high-achieving and diverse student body to the University.
Regarding the restructuring and new hires, Goldmon said both Riggins and Person have proven records and demonstrated expertise in enrollment management. Their presence will enhance our ability to clarify and optimize our strategic enrollment planning and management processes.” The new leadership team is equipped to foster sustained enrollment growth and student success at UAPB.
Three Key Strategies Reimagined
In addition to leadership team changes, the Division’s reimagined strategies include more data-informed decisions, campus-wide collaboration, and process optimization. The Division consistently and effectively uses institutional information and data to make more data-informed decisions. Pragmatically, making data-informed decisions means “accessing, analyzing, and using existing institutional data to help assess progress toward meeting goals and objectives at any given point and time,” says Goldmon. Ms. Margaret Taylor, Director of the Office of Institutional Research, has been a valuable resource. “Working collaboratively with Ms. Taylor exemplifies how we use existing information and data to make more data-informed decisions while engaging other departments in the enrollment management processes.
For example, weekly reports showing the number of applications, admits, and students registered for the upcoming semester are used to identify progress toward current year goals, enable year-to-date comparisons to previous years, and reveal trends that inform the development and execution of future goals and strategies. “The data tell us the areas that we need to emphasize at any given point and time and help to identify areas that need improvement,” says Dr. Goldmon.
New Student Orientation (NSO) data are being analyzed to assess the number of admitted students who have not registered to attend NSO, the number of students who registered for NSO and did not attend, and the number of students who attended NSO the past year but did not enroll.
According to Goldmon, identifying and following up with these students helps identify and develop solutions to weaknesses, poor performance, and poor customer service. The “recovery solutions” help prevent “summer melt” and improve future performance. “So, we’re stemming the tide of losing interested students without knowing why and providing opportunities to respond to extenuating circumstances such as family emergencies, financial challenges, and scheduling conflicts.”
Another example of campus-wide collaboration is the monthly meetings of deans, department chairs, and directors. At the urging and support of Chancellor Laurence B. Alexander, the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success convenes a monthly campus-wide meeting with Deans, Department Chairs, and Directors (DDDs) of all campus units and the Executive Cabinet. The overarching aim of the DDD meetings is to foster campus-wide commitment and collaboration in all enrollment management processes.
UAPB’s strategic enrollment planning and management process is in place to maintain continued growth over the next decade. However, the changes are about more than just increased enrollment. The Division seeks to provide campus-wide leadership that ensures UAPB students are provided the necessary support to attain their educational goals, have a great experience, and graduate with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to be gainfully employed and make valuable contributions to society. “It’s a holistic approach, which begins with the recruitment, admissions, and a new student orientation process that ensures students are fully ready for class on day one of their UAPB journey,” Dr. Goldmon said.
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