Developing the Two-Way Practitioner-Researcher Loop for Enrollment Management

The scholarship of practice entails the use of findings of empirical research to guide the development of institutional policy and practice. Accordingly, engagement in the scholarship of practice by enrollment management (EM) officers precludes them from “shooting from the hip” or trial-and-error forms of professional action. Engagement in a scholarship of practice involves reliance on the work of the research community to generate research findings useful to practice. Research findings will be more useful if EM practitioners can identify topics for research to guide their day-to-day work. This article describes approaches to the development of a needed pathway from EM communities of practice back to the EM research community. In turn, a pathway from the EM research community back to EM practitioners is also needed. Issues pertinent to this pathway are also presented in this article.