The Chief Enrollment Officers’ Forum (CHIEF) delves into the varied demands on admission and enrollment leaders for developing and maintaining innovative and sustainable strategies that achieve institutional goals. The theme of this year’s workshop is Navigating the Now. 

The workshop engages participants with pressing current and future considerations impacting enrollment and the demands facing the profession: fostering access, maintaining focus and commitment to diversity and inclusion, managing up, strategic planning, and best practices for managing in the role in an ever-changing political and legal climate.  

Forum sessions and discussions are designed engage to participants with other professionals on issues impacting CEMOs now, such as: responding to a changing legal and political environment, understanding and effective planning to meet the challenges of changing demographics and student behaviors; best practices for fostering trust and building strong relationships with university leaders and key partners, and  

Incorporated into the workshop are research analyses, best practices and lessons learned, as well as dialogue among peers to foster a rigorous professional learning community. 

About this workshop 

The role of CEMO is changing, expanding, and the stakes are high for leaders in the field working to navigate today’s enrollment and higher education landscape. The CEMO Forum “Navigating the Now” will provide you with an opportunity to engage directly with leaders across the field, learn best practices and key strategies to enhance your work and ability to achieve your institutional and professional outcomes. The workshop focuses on the everyday realities of our current legal and political landscape and the changing student, staff, alumni, and institutional leadership outcomes expectations. Sessions will cover leadership, decision making, adapting to senior leadership transitions, best practices for developing and leading strategic enrollment efforts, and managing up and out to develop strong relationships and enhance stakeholder confidence, all while building your knowledge and expertise to “navigate the now.”  

Who should attend? 

Chief enrollment management officers and those aspiring to take the next step in their professional career to the chief enrollment management officer role (including enrollment managers and directors of admission who aspire to become a CEMO).  

 Schedule information

This two-day, pre-conference workshop will be held Wednesday, September 20, and the morning of Thursday, September 21, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Day 1: Wednesday, September 20, 8:30 – 4:30

Day 2: Thursday, September 21, 8:00 – 10:30 a.m.

Please see below for an outline of the schedule.

Program Directors 

• Derek Kindle, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
• Rachelle Hernandez, Vice Provost for Student Affairs, The Johns Hopkins University 

Questions 

For purchasing and billing questions, please contact customerservice@nacacnet.org. 

Session Titles and Topics

The CEMO Role Unpacked

The CEMO role can look different from campus to campus. Learn about the different models and trends in enrollment and enrollment management portfolios and how your understanding of how other schools are configured, along with the pros and cons of the different portfolio models, can help you address opportunities and needs now and into the future, to position your team for success at your institution. You will also learn the key aspects of the role that every CEMO role has in common, no matter how your portfolio is configured, to help you frame and refocus your work, regardless of what is happening inside or outside your institution.

Focusing on the Cans

We all face obstacles in our work–political, financial, personnel related or something totally unexpected. In this session we will talk about using creativity and our networks to forge a curving, unexpected path to our goals when the straight one seems blocked. A panel of enrollment experts will share how to approach the challenges with we face without feeling like you’re playing a game of Whack-a-Mole, and share strategies that will help you and your teams be best positioned to identify opportunities to turn what feels like an ever-growing list of “can’ts” into a strategic and focused list of “cans.”

Post-Covid Recruitment and Enrollment

Colleges and universities are working to respond to the needs of the Covid generation. Understanding who is in the pipeline and changing student behaviors is critical to leading your institution’s recruitment and enrollment efforts, and readying and positioning your institution to meet student needs and expectations once they enroll. This session will provide attendees with core understanding of who our colleges and universities are and will next be educating and provide you with a framework to leverage this information in your recruitment and enrollment planning.

The Work Beyond the SCOTUS Decision: Diversity and Inclusion in Changing Times

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are foundational to the work of enrollment managers. Learn from experienced CEMOs on navigating the challenges of building a diverse community of students—and have a real conversation about the practices institutions whose states had previously barred the consideration of race in the admissions review process have used to support their recruitment and enrollment efforts and how colleges and universities are looking at recruitment, admission and enrollment into the future. Participants will learn what practices are viewed as most (and least) effective in attracting and recruiting students, and learn how to foster key collaborations across their campuses to achieve positive outcomes for recruiting and enrolling students from groups historically underrepresented in higher education.

What Leadership Needs to Know from the CEMO

The role of CEMO requires constant education of your campus and requires a strong and positive working relationship with key leaders across campus, your Provost, President, and often the Board. Other stakeholders affect your work and outcomes—making campus relationships partnerships key to success in your role. In this session, learn key practices and strategies used by experienced CEMOs to support campus outcomes so that your impact and your desired messages are well-received, understood, and remembered. This session will provide key strategies for developing and maintaining the support of your campus leadership.

Creating or Seizing Opportunities During Times of Transition

Many campuses are creating or changing their CEMO roles. With new changes and opportunities, it is hard to know what one should consider and what resources one can (and should) request in anticipation of, or during transitions (whether your own or with leadership transitions). What key information or questions should one ask of themselves and their institution when making a significant career change to, or in the CEMO role? This session features colleagues who recently transitioned into a CEMO role or moved to new campus communities. Attendees should expect to learn what proved most important when transitioning successfully; what panelists wish they would have known before making the transition; and how to make a successful shift from director to AVP/VP.