M. Neil Woolf, Ed.D.
January 27, 2016
Search Committee Members
University of Montana
Missoula, MT
Dear Search Committee Members:
It is with great interest that I submit my application for the Vice President for Enrollment Management
and Student Affairs at the University of Montana. Due to the current athletic rivalry with Eastern
Washington University, I really appreciate that you are even considering reading a letter from EWU!
Thank you for your time evaluating my candidacy for this important position. I would like to introduce
myself and briefly highlight some of my accomplishments.
I currently serve as the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management at Eastern Washington
University and we share many similar traits (and enrollment size) as the University of Montana. I am
pleased to lead enrollment management at EWU through supervising the Office of Admissions, Records
and Registration, Student Communication Strategies, EWU Spokane Student Services, and Financial Aid
and Scholarships. Operating under the direction of the Vice President of Student Affairs, I serve on the
President’s Cabinet, the Student Affairs Executive Leadership Team and lead the University’s Strategic
Enrollment Management Council.
As AVP at EWU, I lead the enhancement of our enrollment strategies by implementing predictive
analytics for prospective students, created new enrollment funnel reports, changed our institutional
recruitment messaging to include aspects other than cost (e.g. academics, opportunity, alumni success,
location, community, etc.), developed an annual recruitment plan for freshman, transfer, and international
students that exceeded enrollment goals and targets. I am proud to say, that these past two fall starts, we
exceeded our enrollment goals while at the same time helped to increase our first-time, full-time retention
rate. Through balanced communications, strengthened relationships with high school counselors, use of
predictive analytics, and prospective student name-buys, we are on pace for our third straight year of
responsible growth.
As Chair of the Strategic Enrollment Management Council, I collaborate with academic partners, budget
staff, institutional research, and institutional marketing to maximize our enrollment and budget health.
Through these past few years, I have changed the institutional discussion around enrollment management
from strictly admissions focused to a combination of recruitment and retention. I have spent time with
Deans, faculty leadership, and departmental meetings talking with faculty to hear their suggestions and
partner with them. Realizing that approximately 75% of a year’s enrollment comes from the students you
already have has added greatly to our enrollment discussions and strategies. Additionally, I lead the
efforts to acquire a workforce gap analysis at EWU that compared our academic offerings to regional
competitors as well as to the regional workforce needs. The analysis provided evidence of potential
market growth for our academic program offerings.
As Director of Enrollment Services at Nevada State College, I led the College’s enrollment services
division consisting of the offices of recruitment, admissions, and financial aid. In addition, I developed
the student conduct office and the institution’s accreditation efforts as the Co-Chair of Institutional
Accreditation (accreditation is through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities). In this
position, I worked closely with faculty in meeting accreditation standards related to mission fulfillment,
academic excellence, student success, and community engagement.
Philosophically, I believe that enrollment management not only needs to incorporate enrollment
projections, but also take into account market data, community needs, and an academic strategic plan to
realize the institutional mission. Institutional goals and subsequent plans must be data informed, usually
through the creation of a data profile of graduates disaggregated to best target our recruitment strategies
(e.g. graduates by major, zip code, high school, transfer program, GPA, socio-economics, etc.). Beyond
the traditional internal data, I have been successful in incorporating predictive analytics utilize services
such as Chegg (formerly Zinch), ACT, the College Board, Noel Levitz’s SMART Approach, and Forecast
Plus to create predictive modeling for use in our recruiting goals and strategies. I am well experienced
with CRM solutions, particularly Hobson’s College Connections; Leads360, and Blackboard Connect. I
also have experience utilizing Esri Business Analyst as a geo-demographer service that analyzed the
location and metrics associated with our prospective, current, and graduated students.
Enrollment management and student affairs also includes a focus on student service, efficiency, and
policy process and development to reduce the runaround experienced by students. I also realize the
connection enrollment management has to retention, persistence, and graduation. The institution and
students are poorly served when front door services admit students who do not persist. As such, I have
instituted early alert warning systems and implemented the College Student Inventory that identifies and
connects dropout prone students to the appropriate student services on campus. I’ve done this at
institutions where the majority of students are first generation and low income (Pell eligible).
I am particularly proud of our diversity achievements at EWU and Nevada State College. At EWU, we
achieved our highest proportion of ethnically diverse enrollment, beating last year’s records. We hired a
diversity admission advisor and increased our cultural competency as we recruit diverse populations. One
of my personal commitments is to increase access to college for traditionally disadvantaged populations.
Currently, I am building relationships with Eastern Washington’s Native American populations and tribal
leaders and am hosting a summer program on campus for Native American high school students. This
relationship will build on shared commitments to enhance the college going rate of Native Americans by
leveraging resources from both partners. We are also working on a regional summit on education issues
for native populations and are making good progress. In Nevada, I led NSC’s efforts to become a
Hispanic Serving Institution and achieved Title III and Title V designations as an “Emerging Hispanic
Serving Institution.” I participated in Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities programming as
well as lobbied on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for program funds for Title III, IV, and V programs.
In addition to direct supervision of enrollment management functions, I have vast experience providing
leadership for many other student affairs related issues and projects while at Nevada State College, the
Nevada System of Higher Education, and at UNLV. At NSC, I served as the defacto Dean of Students
handling student life, student judicial processes, and supervised student government. As part of the
Executive Team within Student Affairs at EWU, I consult regularly regarding issues related to housing,
student health and wellness, student activities and leadership to enhance the co-curricular portfolio at
EWU. We have a strong culture of assessment with regard to programs and services and have
incorporated student learning outcomes into the fabric of what we do – it helps us remember why we do
what we love to do.
Finally, I want to express to you my deep commitment to leading a division where excellent student
service is our hallmark. Each prospective and current student is treated as a valued member of the college
community. I provide regular focus and attention to our student service skills and abilities knowing that
one bad experience often leads to a student not enrolling or leaving the institution. This hallmark is a
responsibility of all college staff and defines the enrollment management division at EWU. Just so staff
know that service is not just a “top-down” initiative, I established a student experience committee
consisting of front line staff and have given them authority and accountability to improve the student
experience. I also established a slogan for our services, “Retention Starts With Me” to remind folks that
we can make or break a student’s experience. Under my leadership, students are increasingly feeling
valued and are treated with respect and courtesy. This hallmark will set the University of Montana apart
from competitors as students share the message that UM cares about their success.
I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to submit my application for the Vice President for Enrollment
Management and Student Affairs. I am aware of the current budget and enrollment challenges facing UM
and I know I can provide a valuable influence for collaborative improvements. There are many
accomplishments that I have briefly touched on and have others not mentioned. I truly feel that my
experience provides me with a unique opportunity to make a positive contribution to the University and in
the lives of students.
Sincerely,
Dr. Neil Woolf
Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management
Eastern Washington University