ACT Enrollment Planners Conference Marks 25 Years of Sharing Recruitment and Retention Ideas

Jim Mager has attended nearly every ACT Enrollment Planners Conference (EPC) for the past 25 years.

What keeps him coming back? In a word: Connections. “I enjoy connecting with the people who are making things happen in the world of higher education,” said Mager, a senior associate consultant for Noel-Levitz, a higher education consulting firm.

ACT offers the annual national conference for new, mid-level, and senior-level college enrollment managers and other educators involved in planning, managing, and enhancing their campus enrollment services. It has always been held in Chicago.

Nearly 600 people from 43 states attended the 2010 conference in July. More than 100 speakers from across the country made presentations on a variety of recruitment and retention topics. Tracks focused on such areas as marketing/communications, effective uses of data, student access and participation, student retention and success, enrollment management at two-year colleges, and understanding students and their needs.

Mager has presented at the conference many times. One of his first presentations was on ACT’s Enrollment Information Service (EIS), an electronic tool that provides specific data about an institution’s market potential, current market penetration, and yield results. He was working at The Ohio State University at the time and had just implemented EIS. “The service was a big feature that first year, and ACT wanted me to talk about the ways we were using it.”

Over the years, he’s enjoyed sharing his experiences and voicing his opinions. He gave three presentations at last year’s conference that addressed strategic enrollment planning and managing enrollments in the current economic environment.

“ACT shows a great deal of respect for those of us working in the field by encouraging us to provide feedback on its programs and services. What’s really been gratifying is seeing our input reflected back in something new ACT does,” he said.

Eric Nissen, a first-time EPC attendee in 2010, learned about new services ACT has introduced in recent years, such as the AIM ACT Information Manager^® software tool that helps colleges and universities make maximum use of the ACT score-sender records for recruitment and retention. “I was so excited about seeing the AIM demonstration that we are now implementing it on our campus,” said Nissen, assistant director, student recruitment and admissions counseling at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Nissen, who presented on customer relationship management systems, found the diversity of the presenters and topics invigorating. “I learned about new ways to approach various aspects of my work from some very sharp people who are doing interesting things on their campuses,” he said. “The topics were well organized. I was able to attend the sessions I wanted without feeling I was missing out on something.”

Last year’s conference was the second one for Stefan Hyman, who presented on strategies for leveraging social media. Hyman, who is the Web and electronic information coordinator for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at Stony Brook University in New York, benefited from the networking opportunities.

“Anyone working on a college campus is now doing more with less, so it’s important to think strategically about the most effective ways to use data,” he said. “Talking with colleagues from around the country about what has worked well on their campuses is a great way to stay informed about the latest trends in the field. I highly recommend this conference for those involved in enrollment, admissions, or recruitment. The EPC is definitely time well spent.”