Communicating Institutional Culture

Understanding institutional culture “helps new students develop accurate expectations for their college experience,” according to Candice Wilson-Stykes. Her recent study explored the ways colleges and universities communicate institutional culture to new students through email messages. The study site was a large, diverse, competitive, public university in the urban Southwest.

This study helps to fill a gap by exploring how institutions can directly impact students’ success, Wilson-Stykes said in her recent SEMQ article. 

Wilson-Stykes interviewed university enrollment management leaders and looked at the institution’s communications in relation to three levels of culture – artifacts; beliefs and values; and assumptions. 

The research identified three overarching themes: overemphasis, commitment, and community. Wilson-Stykes found that

While the group interview participants and the institution, division, and department-level mission and vision statements emphasized helping students succeed, the emails contradicted this emphasis with an alternate focus on increasing institutional prestige, she stated. 

In addition, she said,

While the group interview participants articulated their responsibility to ensure students’ success, the emails only revealed student burdens. And, finally, the study showed that institutional agents intended to display a supportive environment and to highlight their value of developing students’ sense of belonging, but the emails included student tasks that created distance between admitted students and the institution.

Given their early communication with prospective and newly admitted students, higher education offices that specialize in marketing, recruitment, and business processes are at the front lines of providing information about institutional culture, Wilson-Stykes concluded. Intentionally and transparently communicating culture through email should be an essential goal when these offices construct their communication plans.

Other articles in this issue include: 

• Building A Foundational Approach for Strategic Enrollment Management by Boyd Bradshaw
• Attracting and Retaining Transformative Leaders in Enrollment Management by Lisa Emery and Rema Reynolds Vassar
  
• Recruitment and Retention at the Department-Level: What Measures Can Departments Implement to Positively Impact Student Enrollment? by Steven D. Roper
  
• Putting on Our Reality Glasses: Policy Review and Project Management through an Equity Lens by Kristin Benson , Autumn Landis , and Rebecca Mathern
  

SEMQ is currently seeking submissions on equity and SEM and book reviews.