Enrollment Operations Reorganized

Enrollment Operations Reorganized

BY MICHAEL CINELLI
Rice News Staff
September 30, 1999

Make no mistake about it: The recruiting wars for top students among the nation’s highly-respected research universities are as intense these days as the battle for blue-chip athletes among major collegiate sports programs.

So to remain competitive in bringing the best and the brightest students to Rice, the university has completed a reorganization of its enrollment operations designed to streamline the application, admission, financial aid and registration processes.

The area formerly known as Admission and Records has been transformed into the Office of Enrollment, which encompasses the offices of admission, financial aid, registrar, cashier (for billing purposes only) and the Enrollment Management Operations Center.

Also, the enrollment office is moving to the new Exeter system, and physical and operational changes have taken place in the Allen Center location with financial aid and registrar offices in one space, the cashier across the hall and the operations center downstairs, all of which offers students one-stop shopping and services.

Redesigning and upgrading the infrastructure is only one way of rising above the competition, said Ann Wright, the new vice president for enrollment and the person charged with revitalizing the recruiting program for Rice.

“Rice has done a great job of making college affordable for its students,” Wright said. “The bigger challenge for us now is to send a clear message about the real cost to students, especially in comparison to our competition. Our challenge is to give people–prospective students and their parents–the real comparison in cost and value in coming to Rice.”

As college costs keep rising, Wright added, Rice has made a commitment to maintain its policy of admitting students on a need-blind basis and fully meeting demonstrated need.

“Because the cost of higher education continues to rise more than inflation each year, we need to take another look at how financial aid is used to market the university, particularly with respect to costs at flagshippublic and highly-selective private universities,” Wright said.

“It is important for families to know that for needy students it is less expensive to come to Rice than to go to public institutions, because by coming here they will most often graduate with less debt.”

Among the new faces on the enrollment office team is Carl Buck, the new director of financial aid. Buck has 20 years of experience as a director of financial aid at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Rutgers and the University of Utah.

In addition to Buck joining the enrollment office staff, new duties and new titles in the enrollment division will strengthen Rice’s admission efforts, Wright said.

Dick Stabell, dean of admission and records, will focus on working with the athletic department and the processing of athletic admission.

Julie Browning, formerly director of admissions, has been named the new dean for undergraduate enrollment. Barry McFarland, formerly senior associate director of admission, has been named dean for enrollment administration, with supervisory responsibilities for the registrar, the operations center and the billing functions of the cashier’s office.

McFarland has also been named acting registrar until a national search is concluded to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Jim Williamson from that post after 30 years of service to the university.

“Reorganizing into an enrollment management division will improve our recruitment and matriculation of the nation’s top students,” Browning said. “There will be closer collaboration among the offices that report to Ann Wright and more opportunities for strategic thinking and planning. It’s a very exciting time.”

McFarland agreed, adding, “We want to provide the very best service to the students, faculty and staff while at the same time retaining the traditions and one-on-one feel which makes Rice such a special place.”