Snapshots Announcements Spotlight UTSA Athletics

April 2011, Issue 8



Spotlight

Visiting With...Eric Cooper, Director of Student Enrollment Services

Eric Cooper

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where were you born? What brought you to UTSA?
I was born and raised in the hills of Virginia and lived there until finally moving north. My wife, Mary Kay, picked me from all the other pups in the pound and took me home to Pennsylvania. After a lot of cold winters, we decided to move some place warmer, and that happened to be San Antonio! So, I’m at UTSA by accident. And although my other positions have been with small, private universities, I have managed to adapt to a large institution.

What are your position's duties?
I supervise 31 employees in Student Enrollment Services. Since Enrollment Services provides students and parents with customer service for Financial Aid, Registrar, Admissions and some Fiscal Services aspects, I have to work with those offices to determine best practices. We have to communicate constantly and be very collaborative (and there’s my 4Cs plug!). I also get to constantly assess our office and the information we provide, make recommendations for change, and revise as necessary. Luckily, all aspects of my job and Enrollment Services seem to be constantly evolving and moving forward which keeps me entertained and busy.

What do you like most about working in Enrollment Services?
I really like working with students and most parents, and those are the primary reasons I have stayed in higher education. Unfortunately, I don’t get to interact with students as much as I used to, but I do enjoy working with my staff. I have a great group of people I get to work with in Enrollment Services, but I wish I had more time to visit with each of them. Well, they might just think I was bothering them anyway, since I happen to be loud and obnoxious on occasion. I do wish I could keep people from sometimes being mean to the staff. When dealing with federal, state and institutional policies and procedures, the customer can’t always be right and that makes customer service really tough. I applaud them for what they do!

What makes your work in Student Affairs most satisfying?
There are two things that I really enjoy about Student Affairs: interacting with people and the constant opportunity to learn something new every day. As I said, I really enjoy working with students, but I also love to learn (hey, I’m green!) and you can really do that in the higher education setting. And, Student Affairs at UTSA just happens to be an excellent division!

Anything we should keep in mind about the world of Financial Aid this year?
Bear with us!!! This has been a really tough year, especially with the Federal and State legislative changes and budget constraints. We are currently awarding new students admitted for the fall semester, but we won’t be able to award returning students until June. We just don’t know the outcomes yet. Although we’re beginning to see some progress with the Pell Grant and the Texas Excellence Grant, we can’t be certain of the funding right now. So far, students have been understanding of the fact this isn’t our fault, but that patience and understanding will probably start to fade as the summer progresses.

Do you have any hobbies that you would like to tell us about?
Do I have hobbies? Oh, yes. We don’t have children, so that opens up a lot of time for my hobbies which include raising bonsai and orchids, spending time with pets (2 greyhounds and three cats and fish tanks), and training for triathlons. I just recently retired from martial arts after 21 years. It just became too hard on my body and the younger kids are faster and in better shape. I had to ‘cheat’ more to keep and up and hit more than I was being hit. So, I did the smart thing and moved to triathlon, although some people may not see it that way since I still exercise anywhere between 10-13 hours each week. Swimming and cycling aren’t as hard on the body as running, but none of the three are as hard as spin kicks, jump kicks, or constantly cracking shins with someone. Still, I do miss mixing it up in the ring!

Is it true that Michael Scott of The Office modeled his character after you?
Yes, and I’m still receiving royalties! I was asked to replace Steve Carell as he leaves the show this year, but I had too much going on with all the committees here at UTSA, so I decided to let Will Ferrell take over the role. Will was very grateful, so I feel good about the decision.

What might we not know about you that you can share?
I was in school a long time, but loved all of it. I would still be taking classes if I had the time. I would love to go through the doctoral program in Educational Leadership here at UTSA. No, one dissertation wasn’t enough! But, I would just as easily love to do the master’s degree in Kinesiology. Or, maybe I would like an MBA. Is it really that obvious my most dominant color in True Colors is green?