President's Initiative on Strategic Enrollment
Dear Roadrunners,
Today I am writing to announce the launch of the President’s Initiative on Strategic Enrollment.
This initiative will help shape what UTSA looks like in 10 years and beyond. Our future as a multicultural discovery enterprise and urban-serving institution requires that we graduate world-ready students with the in-demand skills employers seek as workforce needs evolve. To do this, we must consider our best opportunities for strategic enrollment that align with our student success goals.
This task force will develop data-informed strategies for predicting long-term strategic enrollment growth through data analysis, strategy development, goal development and implementation. Part of their work will be to determine the optimal mix of undergraduate and graduate students, in-state and out-of-state students, and international students, all within the context of our role as a doctoral-granting institution.
Additionally, task force members will carefully examine the 60/30TX Higher Education Plan. This initiative by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board aims for 60 percent of Texans ages 25-34 to have a certificate or degree by the year 2030. Equally important will be a careful examination of the knowledge economy needs of San Antonio given our region’s emerging industries.
I have asked the task force to consider our online offerings, as well as the capacities of both our Main and Downtown Campuses. They will also create a set of guiding assumptions around total enrollment, weighted student credit hour production and student success.
Of course, we cannot grow enrollment without growing our infrastructure. A critical part of this initiative will be developing a methodology for determining the capital assets, physical spaces, student services and faculty needed to support our enrollment goals.
Dr. Lisa G. Blazer, Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, will chair the task force. A 25-year veteran in the field of Enrollment Management, Dr. Blazer has played an instrumental role in several strategic planning and student success initiatives at UTSA. Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a well-regarded consulting firm with expertise in enrollment data analytics, will assist the task force in its work.
This initiative will build on some good work already happening at UTSA under Lisa’s leadership to utilize a data-driven approach to enrollment management. As just one example, UTSA is currently collaborating with UT System on a dashboard to better predict enrollment of our incoming freshmen as well as first year retention.
Please visit the Strategic Enrollment Initiative webpage to see the complete list of task force members, as well as the group’s charge and timeline. More information will be added to this site as the task force’s work gets underway. In December, you can expect to see evidence of this initiative integrating with the Student Success Initiative (announced yesterday) and Finance & Budget Model Initiative (to be announced soon), as all three are heavily interconnected.
The Strategic Enrollment Initiative embodies the very essence of UTSA’s potential as an urban-serving university that cultivates cradle-to-career learning. That said, the future of our institution relies on more than just one task force; it relies on all of us to shape UTSA’s role as a driver of San Antonio’s ecosystem. Thank you, as always, for all the work you do and for your active engagement in UTSA’s future.
With Appreciation,
Taylor Eighmy
President
