By Autumn Walden, Content Strategy Manager, AACRAO
Our AACRAO professional community has forged through over a century of institutional progress, roadblocks, turmoil, and breakthroughs. Don’t underestimate your capacity to act on the documented lessons from decades of success and failure. While the transcript is the official record that documents a learner's academic performance, the research and publications from enrollment practitioners document the evolution of our field’s performance.
Here you’ll have the chance to briefly enter inside the thoughts and minds of two strategic enrollment management (SEM) champions, Jody Gordon and Stan Henderson. They are the authors of a trilogy of books on SEM:
Both authors have deep roots as practitioners in the enrollment profession, serving as senior leadership officials in higher education institutions and as AACRAO Consultants. Jody pioneered the development of the first SEM plan for the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV). Stan pioneered the founding of the SEM Conference and has attended 33 of the 34 SEM conference events. At the SEM 2024 Conference in Boston, Jody and Stan sat down with AACRAO Connect to discuss why they were compelled to write about SEM, common misconceptions about what SEM is, their nomenclature journey from “student” to “learner,” and much more.
What compelled you to write so extensively about SEM?
Stan Henderson:
One of the driving things for both of us was that we wanted more detail. There hadn't been a core concept book before Wayne's book in 2017, “SEM Core Concepts: Building Blocks for Institutional and Student Success,” which was more of a broad brush with philosophical approaches and concepts from the literature. It was a great entry into the core concepts.
We wanted to divide the topic up to include the “why” for SEM planning. We wanted to make sure that we talked about what SEM is and isn't, and we wanted to talk about things like culture. That was something that I was particularly interested in. I thought we needed a chapter on culture and the steps.
Jody and I are part of the AACRAO Consulting group, and we use frameworks for core concept workshops, which go through the seven steps of SEM planning. But we thought that in “SEM Core Concepts,” we ought to talk about those seven steps. So we gradually built in more detail than what was in the original book. And that was deliberate.
Jody Gordon:
I was working with Christopher to do our session for this conference—and as I reflected on the book, I was struck by how much we were emphasizing the “strategic”—the “S” in SEM. We gave the big capital “S” a real highlight in the book. So much has been written about enrollment management. Even our first iteration of “SEM Core Concepts” was more focused on enrollment management.
Henderson:
Strategic enrollment management—SEM—that's quintessential AACRAO. It's used in other places, but we originated it. The EM concept came from Michael Dolence, who was a consultant that we worked with in the early 90s, and he was a strategic planner at Cal State Los Angeles. That was where he started. So he came with a strategic planning perspective. He really pushed the strategic part. Then the Board adopted that language with what we were doing, and it became branded with what AACRAO was doing. So the SEM conference was one of the first iterations of that concept.
Gordon:
By the way, he was at every one of them except one.
Henderson:
I was part of a committee that met to talk about a conference as I went into my first year of the AACRAO Vice Presidency. We wanted to develop an agenda for strategic enrollment management. And the conference was one of the things that we came up with. The first one was in 1991, and I've been to all of them except for the one in 2022—so 33 out of 34.
Gordon:
Stan, do you want to share the journey that we went on when updating language from “student” to “learner?” Because I was with you on that journey, too.
Henderson:
So, it started very early in the writing of the book. Jody says to me, “AACRAO’s decided we're going to use ‘learner’ instead of ‘student.’” And I said, “Well, I don't think that's a good idea.” And my argument then was that people were not accustomed to it. It wasn't commonly used. And I even went to all kinds of websites and everything—citing various associations’ uses of “student” and so on—people were going to be confused. So we went back and forth.
Gordon:
You found something online?
Henderson:
Well, I did. I went online, and I searched “learner” instead of “student” or something like that. The first thing that popped up was a statement from the AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The standards that they put out use the term “learners,” and they have a statement that accompanies their standards of whatever the year was, which explains why they're using “learner” instead of “student.”
The concept of a learner is active. A student is passive. They went into this detail. K-12 education literature was also debating how we should be calling the people in front of our teachers “learners” because we want to think about them as partners rather than as passive people. And I thought, “Oh, that's really what EM is.” EM is about partnering. Especially from the Canadian educational perspective, it’s a partnership. They don't see themselves managing students. They see themselves partnering with students.
“Learner” goes along with that partnership. And so writing a book, you're supposed to be the expert in doing the writing, and yet I think you learn something while you're writing. That's a great value of being an author in my judgment. In the Forward of the book, we talked about our specific decision to use “learner,” and why this book refers to students as learners as a way of introducing it to the reading public. We're doing this deliberately.
Gordon:
It's a way of conceptualizing those who are in our classrooms and our activities on our campuses. They're learners rather than students—not just in word, but in action.
We gave some good examples throughout the book but we chose not to change the wording when it was in reference to things like departments. We didn't go so far as say, “Learner Services,” although we may have this a few times, but we stuck with department names that are familiar. We struggled with that a little bit. That's why we say “Student Affairs” because it’s also known as “Academic Affairs”—calling it ”Learner Affairs” would be pushing it. So, it’s not just slapping a new name on something; it's actually how you are engaging and learning with the learner. What does their learning environment really look like? That's where colleges and universities are headed.
Henderson:
We see this as very much directed at adult learners, too. The use of learner is also an homage to the new generations of students. What we call in the book the “new students.” These are not your typical 18-year-old residential flagship youths. These are the people who are the new learners in higher education. The 80% of students are learners in higher education today. They want “just in time, just enough, and just for me,” a phrase from Laura Wankel. That should be emblazoned on every enrollment manager's desk and on faculty offices, too. That's what they're demanding, and if we don't provide it, we'll lose the franchise for educating them. They'll go someplace that offers “just in time, just enough, and just for me.”
What distinguishes each book in the trilogy, and how do they collectively create a cohesive narrative while serving distinct purposes?
Henderson:
Well, “SEM Core Concepts” is the “how-to.” It is the foundation of SEM planning.
Gordon:
These three books are written for practitioners. “SEM Core Concepts” was written first, and now it's been rewritten. Stan and his colleague Kevin Pollock then wrote “SEM as a Connector,” the second book. As they were finishing up, it was so obvious to us—Laura Wankel, who co-wrote “SEM In Action,” and me—that we were ready to write “SEM In Action,” the third book.
Henderson:
Yes. “SEM as a Connector” and “SEM In Action” those two fit together, and that really was the incentive for us to rewrite “SEM Core Concepts.”
“SEM as a Connector” is about seeing enrollment management as a way to connect students to a campus, to a college, to a university, and help them make relationships that will make them feel like they belong. So that second book is a major part of the student life cycle. It's the holistic approach to the student experience, which should be all about helping them belong.
It focuses on the student journey and emphasizes through case studies how you can develop a program that draws the student in and engages the student with the campus. And once the student starts to engage, relationships form. And that's a major design and implementation piece. It's really the bridge between the foundation and the implementation.
“SEM in Action” is the implementation and the sustainability of the SEM plan. The plan’s sustainability is key in the third book.
Who is the audience?
Gordon:
Boards, and essentially all executives: executive directors, AVPs, VPs, presidents.
Henderson:
Presidents and provosts tend to be the ones who find the resources to do the planning. The three presidents this morning on the panel were spectacular in their understanding of what EM can do for their institutions and that's what you need in a president.
Would you recommend these books to someone who might be aspiring to be a president or VP?
Gordon:
Yes, the ASCEND participant scholars receive “SEM Core Concepts” for that very reason—to inspire them and to help them understand the planning process.
Henderson:
That's what's so exciting when you get a president who has that background. That's the magic sauce. You have to have a president with that kind of understanding of how people come together to do so. And for the president to be accepting of it, too.
Have you seen any major differences between how community colleges and four-year institutions approach strategic planning?
Gordon:
They have different approaches and certainly, our frameworks work well for all types. The difference is not in the process or the frameworks, but it's in some of the outcomes and the direction. So the goals might vary. There might be some variation in how they'll get there and the tactics and strategies to help them achieve that.
For years it wasn't done at community colleges as often. We've worked with entire systems of community colleges in seven states, and four of those states worked simultaneously with us to build their SEM plans. So now we're upwards of close to 80 community colleges just in the last six years who've all engaged in this work together.
Henderson:
The community college work that we do through AACRAO Consulting is becoming one of our brands. There are very, very few community colleges that are going to afford a for-profit consulting group. It's just outside of the realm of financial possibilities for community colleges. We're much more suited for community and regional campuses, but we have worked with flagship campuses.
What are some of the biggest misconceptions or misunderstandings that people or organizations have about SEM?
Gordon:
That SEM is a recruitment and marketing plan. But rather, it's the entire learner life cycle. And we do talk about that in the book.
Henderson:
I think a big misconception is that it's front-end loaded and about putting “butts in seats.” But it's also keeping butts in seats. If you don't keep them, then your admissions and recruitment offices are charged with replenishing the empty seats every year. Well, that's inefficient. SEM is the learner life cycle—the holistic approach. It's learner engagement and belonging, making connections, the belonging and the inclusion part of the journey through the institution.
Another misconception is that only admissions is responsible for SEM. No, it's everybody's responsibility. Even the gardeners and the grounds people on campus, it’s their responsibility, too. I was on a consulting project and went into the student dining center, and there was “Chip, the Checker,” and every single student who entered got some kind of recognition from Chip as they went through. And the president told me, “People on campus know Chip more than me,” which is SEM in action.
Gordon:
That's holistic. That's putting the learner at the forefront.
Henderson:
We have a whole chapter on “What is SEM and what is it not?” and we have gathered all the myths and quick fixes. There’s no magic wand.