Refocusing | Losing | Finding: Beyond SEM Structures, Functions, and Administrative Contexts

Jack Maguire proclaimed in his classic article, detailing Boston College's enrollment management (EM) design, that “to the organized go the students.” Since the inception of EM in the 1970s, college and university leaders have perpetuated structuralist approaches to EM, which are often reflected in persistent debates about the ideal collection and organizational placement of EM functions under either an administrative or academic C-level executive. This article acknowledges the structural beginnings and inherent functional aspects of SEM, but also challenges SEM researchers and practitioners to expand their theoretical frames, analytical lenses, organizational conclusions, and individual actions toward more effectively realizing SEM practices and professions in the academic context. To that end, the author promotes an academic orientation to SEM and the strategic repositioning of the 21st century collegiate registrar in a SEM context.