For SEM to meet student needs effectively and make administrative jobs more meaningful, it’s time to shift the paradigm, says Stanley Henderson, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Life at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and contributor to the AACRAO publication SEM: Transforming Higher Education.
That change starts with focusing on building a community around SEM.
Bring SEM to life
Sometimes, institutional processes can seem monolithic and dehumanizing—like they are happening to people without their active participation. On the other hand, communities are warm-blooded, cooperative and responsive to people’s input. So, when SEM professionals think of themselves as belonging to a higher education community—rather than as subjects of an institutional process—they can become dynamic contributors to a system that makes a difference in other community members’ lives.
Community is “the fourth face of SEM,” Henderson argues—after structural management, planning and leadership. Numerous case studies demonstrate how a spirit of community among administrative staff and faculty has brought about results that may have been unimaginable in a less collaborative context.
"Perhaps most significantly,” Henderson asserts, “a SEM Community face can help to move students out of a passive institution, where things out of their control happen to them, and into a community place where people work with them to meet their needs."
Join our online community
As a companion to SEM: Transforming Higher Education, EMAS Pro is hosting a free online seminar series for senior leaders interested in creating and sustaining effective SEM programs and services.
In the seminars, book editors and contributors, including seminal thinkers Bob Bontrager and Ron and Dori Ingersoll, will present their perspectives on how to advance enrollment management strategies and new approaches for sustainability. The seminars are offered every 3rd Thursday of the month from 2 to 3p Eastern. Join us for the series or as your schedule allows.
By: AACRAO Connect