Academic Career & Executive Search is pleased to assist Boise State University in its search for Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management (VPSAEM).

For best consideration, please apply by October 14th.

With a top-down commitment to student success, the Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management (VPSAEM) reports directly to the President of Boise State University and is a member of the President’s executive team. The next VPSAEM will step into a well-run department with a motivated staff and high functioning systems within a university wholly committed to creating an exceptional and inclusive student experience at every step.

Surrounded by bucolic mountains and rivers and located in a vibrant city with an active, engaged community and a robust and fast-growing economy, Boise State has been nationally recognized for innovation. Having obtained Carnegie Classification in 2016, Boise State University is a growing research institution (R2).

Boise State seeks a dynamic, engaging, and visionary leader to serve as the Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management (VPSAEM). The campus priority is student success. Therefore, our new VPSAEM must be a highly skilled, accomplished, and innovative executive who will serve as the University’s chief advocate and strategist on matters related to students, student services, and enrollment strategy in undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition, the position will lead efforts to build a campus culture focused on access and success for every student, regardless of where they come from and where they are going, and will be responsible for developing, leading, and supporting institutional initiatives related to student affairs and enrollment. The VPSAEM will be a prime driver of efforts related to recruitment, retention, student success and post-graduate outcomes.

Leadership Priorities:

Student Advocacy
Over the past 20 years, Boise State has experienced a rapid transformation from a university predominantly serving commuter students to a research university serving a broad constituency of Idaho students and out-of-state students, the latter of whom are primarily from the west coast. With this rapid growth has come rich opportunities to serve a wide variety of students with diverse needs, including residential and commuting students; students balancing work, school, and family; students enrolled in online programs; and a growing Latinx student population.

The VPSAEM will emphasize support and development of the whole student as part of a complete educational experience. Experience working with and intentionally serving a wide variety of students with diverse lived experiences and identities will be essential, especially as we seek to identify ways to better serve those who have been underserved by higher education. In accordance with direction from the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities (NCCU), Boise State’s accrediting body, the VPSAEM will also play an important role in working to “close equity gaps” in student enrollment and graduation.

Collaborate with Colleagues
The VPSAEM is a member of the president’s executive team, which works collaboratively across operational areas, striving to innovate using Blue Turf Thinking. The VPSAEM will work closely with the institution’s Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, building upon the already strong partnership between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, as well as all other members of the Cabinet. The VPSAEM will be called upon to cultivate and foster cooperative and collaborative relationships, seeking ways to leverage resources to address the needs of all our students, be they academic, financial, personal, or social. The VPSAEM will balance advocacy for student affairs work with a collaborative focus on the larger context of university-wide priorities.

Provide Leadership and Vision for the Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Division
The VPSAEM will foster a working environment in which staff in the division can thrive, attending to well-being, engagement, and development, so that staff can do their best work to support students.

The rapid growth of the student body both on campus and online over the last two decades has created a need for expanded student support services. The VPSAEM will have the opportunity to set and execute a strategy to modify or add new activities and services, working intentionally within budgetary constraints. Further, the VPSAEM will bring a generous spirit and a creative orientation to the work of building community across the student body, fostering a sense of belonging for every student, and meeting the unique needs of students within our community.

The VPSAEM will be building on a strong foundation. In Boise State’s 2019 Accreditation report from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, our Student Affairs Division was issued a specific commendation for its outstanding work in serving students.

Finally, the VPSAEM will provide a vision for the substantive work of the division with attention to our local context. Located in the state’s capital and serving as Idaho’s largest public research institution, Boise State is often in the media and legislative spotlight. The VPSAEM will play a critical role in helping our external stakeholders understand the valuable ways in which the programs and services of the division are critical to student success and to the needs of the State of Idaho.

Implement a Flexible, Responsive, Enrollment and Retention Strategy
With direction from the President and in collaboration with Academic Affairs, the VPSAEM will provide vision for and management of recruitment, enrollment, and retention of Boise State students. This will include attention to equity gaps in access, retention, graduation, and post-graduate outcomes. This work is critically important because Boise State graduates more students than any other public university or college in Idaho. Thus, the VPSAEM plays an important role in increasing the population of Idaho residents with a college degree.

In recent years, Boise State has expanded its effort to recruit a balance of in-state and out-of-state students by promoting Boise State and the qualities of our community as an attractive option. These efforts have been successful and are a significant contributor to our robust enrollment growth. As we move forward, the VPSAEM will work to achieve an appropriate balance of in-state and out-of-state students—one that helps all students and the state to thrive—as well as providing significant attention to Idaho populations (e.g., first-gen, rural, Hispanic/Latinx) which have been underserved by higher education in our state.

As part of the University’s Strategic Plan, ‘Blueprint for Success,'' Boise State has developed a Strategic Enrollment and Retention plan, which serves as a living document to guide the university's efforts in this area. This work reflects a strong cross-divisional collaboration between Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, and Academic Affairs. The VPSAEM will have an opportunity to inform and support the plan’s implementation, as well as its evolution over time.

Funding
The VPSAEM will develop plans that create efficiencies and prioritizes new and existing resources, while developing strategies that promote enrollment growth and retention of all students, especially historically underserved students. Within the Student Affairs and Enrollment Management operations, the VPSAEM will develop innovative strategies for allocating limited resources in a financially sustainable manner to achieve the division’s goals.


Primary Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

University Collaboration
The VPSAEM serves as a member of the President's executive team and is a vital leader at Boise State and in the community. The VPSAEM represents the university on both internal and external committees.

Administrative Leadership
The VPSAEM provides vision and leadership for all units and departments in the Student Affairs and Enrollment Management division. With a student-centered approach, the VPSAEM will lead the division to enhance student life/experience, as well as operational quality and effectiveness. This leader will be responsible, too, for fostering an atmosphere in which equity and inclusion for all prevail. The division facilitates student access to university services, contributes to student learning, and supports the holistic development of Boise State students.

Departmental Oversight
The Vice President provides strategic and annual planning, budget setting, allocation and oversight, and workforce support and accountability.

The VPSAEM oversees the following departments: Vice President’s office Budget and Finance, Career Services, Student Communications and Marketing, Admissions and New Student Programs, Financial Aid and Scholarships, Enrollment Services, Registrar’s Office, Housing & Residence Life, Campus Recreation, Student Involvement & Leadership Center (Sorority and Fraternity Life; Clubs & Organizations; Student Activities; Student Media; and Associated Students of Boise State University), Dean of Students, Student Equity, Student Conduct & Academic Integrity, CARE Team, Educational Access Center, Veteran Services, Gender Equity Center, Student Union Building, Bronco Shops, and Dining Services.

Budget and Personnel Management
The VPSAEM is responsible for over $50 million dollars in appropriated, local, auxiliary, and grant budgets. The VPSAEM is also responsible for personnel management including hiring, making hiring recommendations, completing performance evaluations, scheduling, establishing departmental and employee priorities, etc.

The VPSAEM supervises the following direct reports: Associate VP Student Affairs, Associate VP Enrollment Management, Dean of Students, Associate VP Campus Services, Assistant VP Student Communications and Marketing, Director of Career Services, Director of Campus Recreation, Interim Executive Director Housing and Residence Life and Business Operations Manager/Executive Assistant to the VPSAEM.


Required Qualifications

• An exceptional combination of relevant accomplishments in higher education administration and undergraduate and graduate degrees from an accredited institution.
• Senior level experience related to student affairs with a history of progressively greater responsibilities in higher education administration

Preferred Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have or will be:

• A doctorate preferred or an exceptional combination of master’s degree and relevant accomplishments in higher education administration or an academic field;
• Five to eight years of senior level experience; strong track record of progressively increasing leadership responsibilities in either student affairs or enrollment management, with evidence of ability to develop further and provide leadership in both areas.
• A successful record of administration including strategic planning, budgeting, resource management, student information systems, program assessment, and program development;
• A student-centered orientation and practice;
• Approachable and accessible to students, ability to relate to and understand the needs of all students, particularly those historically underserved by higher ed; excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills; ability to communicate with transparency and clarity;
• Demonstrated effectiveness managing auxiliary enterprises in a financial sustainable manner;
• Demonstrated effectiveness in collaborating with units outside of student affairs/enrollment management;
• Proficiency in managing necessary or appropriate change while working in a collaborative environment;
• Ability to get buy-in/support for any initiatives;
• Unwavering commitment to equity in the full diversity of our community and the ability to foster inclusive communities for all;
• Ability to lead, motivate, and manage staff;
• Expertise in creating partnerships with a broad array of internal and external university constituents including students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents, and the public;
• Adaptability, creativity, and flexibility;
• Ability to think innovatively about the development and delivery of university programs and services;
• Ability to work with stakeholders of all backgrounds to help them understand the importance of supporting all students, particularly those who are historically underserved by higher ed;
• High level of integrity, compassion, and courage with excellent interpersonal skills;
• Team builder and collaborator; and
• Active listener, problem solver, and successful conflict manager.

ABOUT BOISE STATE

With a trailblazing, innovative character, Boise State University is dedicated to being a premier student-success driven research university innovating for statewide and global impact. Learn more about Boise State and the City of Boise at https://www.boisestate.edu/about/boise-and-beyond/.

Often described as “Blue Turf Thinking” after their iconic football field, this mindset shapes the scrappy, creative, and boundary-breaking style of our academic enterprise. The university fosters a culture of innovation by inviting and rewarding the engagement of the whole community in their evolution and by building structures that incentivize creativity and bold new ideas.

Boise State provides an innovative, transformative, and equitable educational environment that prepares students for success and advances Idaho and the world.

The university has experienced sustained growth for decades and has a keen focus on student success. A top choice for students from Idaho and across the West, Boise State has more than doubled its graduate programming in the past 15 years and has set records for the number of graduates for 10 straight years.

Nationally recognized in the Top 50 for innovation by U.S. News & World Report and described by the Chronicle of Higher Education as a university that is “demonstrably on the move,” Boise State was also one of five universities in the nation recognized in 2017 by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities for innovative approaches to improving retention and graduation rates.

Boise State makes a huge positive impact on our state. Home to Idaho’s largest graduate school, we also enroll more than one-third of all students in Idaho’s public higher education system and confer nearly half of all bachelor’s degrees awarded by the state’s public universities.

Boise State has risen on a stunning trajectory from a community college to a doctoral research university. It now embodies the best of both worlds—a strong focus on students and their wellbeing, alongside the transformative potential of research and its impacts on both student outcomes and on the world around us through discovery. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church as Boise Junior College, it transitioned to an independent junior college in 1934. Later, it evolved to Boise College, then, Boise State College and, since 1974, as Boise State University. It began awarding baccalaureate degrees in 1965 and master’s degrees in 1972. Doctoral degrees have been awarded by the university since 1997. Only seven presidents have led Boise State University during its 88-year history; Dr. Marlene Tromp is the current president.

Boise State has earned a Carnegie Classification of a High Research Activity Doctoral Universities with over 58% growth in research awards over the last five years and many of Boise State’s academic programs have achieved accreditation or approval by specialized professional organizations and agencies.

BOISE STATE’S MISSION
Boise State provides an innovative, transformative, and equitable educational environment that prepares students for success and advances Idaho and the world.

BOISE STATE’S VISION
To be a premier student-success driven research university innovating for statewide and global impact. The trailblazing, innovative character that has always defined Boise State will help us foster student success, advance Idaho, and Idahoans, and strengthen our culture of innovation and impact.

ABOUT BOISE

Year after year, the city of Boise earns accolades from across the country as a wonderful place to work, play, raise a family, grow a business, and enjoy life. With a population of more than 225,000 within a surrounding metropolitan area of nearly 750,000, the capital city and its high-tech economy are driving the development of the fastest-growing state in the nation.

Boise is one of the most geographically isolated cities in the nation and prides itself on its homegrown culture, businesses, education, and outdoor amenities. The entrepreneurial spirit that has launched and housed companies like Albertsons, the J.R. Simplot Co., Morrison-Knudsen and Micron Technology pervades today among the next generation of business pioneers.

The Boise Greenbelt runs more than 25 miles along the Boise River past downtown and the Boise State campus. From Bogus Basin Mountain Resort to a brand-new Whitewater Park, the city’s network of parks, trails and open space help ensure access to Idaho’s great outdoors will remain a key element of the Boise lifestyle.

The city is home to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Treefort Music Fest, the Boise Philharmonic, the Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, and much more. It is one of the few cities in the nation to have a full municipal department dedicated to arts and history.

Boise State has been recognized as one of the top three universities in the country for Outdoor Adventure and fly fishing – you can hook a trout in the shadow of Bronco Stadium. A walk or ride down the Greenbelt takes you across the city and through a variety of beautiful terrains.

Boise hosts two farmers’ markets downtown, and a fabulous menu of local and national restaurant options from food trucks and steak houses to unique international cuisine. We’re supportive of local business and commerce while growing a healthy mix of economic development and industry.

Families enjoy Boise’s excellent public schools – and many find comfortable homes among our diverse religious communities. Our many cultures love to share with each other: from the Jewish Deli Days to the Greek and Russian food festivals to the huge gathering of Basques from around the world every five years in Boise, the city loves to come together for special events.

To Apply

For best consideration, please apply by October 14th.

Please do not email applications.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received and should include a cover letter and curriculum vita. Ideally cover letters should not exceed two pages. All applications are treated confidentially.

Inquiries, referrals, and nominations are treated confidentially:

Inquiries and questions: Please send to BoiseStateVPSAEM@acesrch.com
Nominations and referrals: Please send to nominations@acesrch.com