Organizational structure, data, marketing, diversity, financial aid, and leadership are topics that are central to our understanding of how SEM is implemented and impacts the student experience. This issue of SEM Quarterly speaks to how current SEM practitioners are increasing our understanding of these topics and what we can do to enhance our practice in each of these areas.

Enrollment management is often implemented by modifying the institution’s organizational structure. Kelley Adams Lips conducted a comparative case study at two mid-sized, private institutions to understand how institutional goals and environmental factors contribute to the organizational structure of enrollment management divisions, as well as how the composition promotes integration between individual subunits to achieve institutional goals. The findings suggest that structure can be influenced by the experience of personnel, revenue, the culture, and the desire to enhance institutional prestige, and that the degree of coupling between subunits within the division impacts goal achievement.

We have long known that institutional data and primary data collection is key to successful SEM implementation. Steven Smith, Tom Brophy, and Adam Daniels describe the challenges, triumphs, and setbacks experienced by a mid-sized, public Canadian university that is two years into the SEM planning process. With the COVID-19 pandemic as context, they offer a specific ROI-based financial model and enrollment projects that resulted in the building of a sense of urgency that was used to pilot SEM initiatives and to assess impact.

Institutional market positions can change over time. John Haller conducted a longitudinal comparative case study that explored the changing market positions of two private Catholic institutions, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that assessed the factors affecting market position differentiation at each institution and showed that the student demand, student persistence, and financial resources elements of market position took different trajectories at each institution. A model for institutions to better understand their market position is presented.

As law schools set goals to increase student racial diversity, educational leaders need to be able to explain the systemic process related to race and racism. Kelly Long chronicles the systemic nature of inequities in the legal profession pipeline by merging literature, quantitative data, and qualitative evidence under the lens of critical race theory and QuantCrit. This paper shows how the problem of racial injustice in the legal profession pathway may be explained by inequitable student experiences and identifies strategies higher education institutions might employ to address inequities. We will return to the topic of social justice and SEM in the upcoming SEMQ special edition.

Financial aid is an essential component of enrollment management practice. Chad Sartini provides a book review of the 2022–23 National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators book, Financial Aid Leadership in Strategic Enrollment Management. The review comments on how financial aid fits in SEM and describes how the book will help financial aid administrators who want to expand their understanding and skills related to SEM and who may aspire to higher levels of enrollment management leadership.

The lived experiences of chief enrollment management officers (CEMO) are a good resource for new or early career CEMOs to reflect on as they build their practice. Aaron Berger explores eight CEMOs’ lived experiences at Ohio’s public and private four-year institutions by identifying what experiences influence ability to lead and the competencies needed to be successful in an increasingly competitive higher educational market. It provides an excellent pathway for professional development that practicing CEMOs will find valuable.

Successful enrollment management practitioners need to have a broad skill set ranging from data analysis, student recruitment and marketing, and financial aid to organizational structure, student retention, and leadership.

Happy reading.