Concordia College invites nominations for and expressions of interest in the position of Vice President for Enrollment. The new Vice President will join an energetic and collegial leadership team, led by President William Craft, and will serve on the President’s Cabinet, while carrying direct responsibility for admissions, financial aid, and retention programs.

Concordia College is moving into a time of significant transition concurrent with complex and disruptive change in all of higher education. In response to programmatic strengths and 21st century imperatives and a commitment to innovation and adaptation, the College is currently undertaking an imaginative revision of its educational offerings guided by a bold and ambitious 2012-2017 strategic plan, Whole Self, Whole Life, Whole World (see Appendix). A seasoned enrollment professional can expect to lead an enrollment team in sharpening the strategic focus and operation of the enrollment division to assure effectiveness in an ever more diverse and competitive student marketplace, to more effectively market Concordia’s many distinctive programs, and to fully engage the energy of the total campus community in the enrollment effort.

Vice President for EnrollmentSEARCH PROFILE

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The Leadership Challenge

The Vice President for Enrollment position offers an exciting array of leadership opportunities and challenges for a mission-oriented enrollment professional and educational leader. The person filling this position will work closely with President Craft and the College’s senior leadership, as well as the broad college community, including the Board of Regents, faculty, staff, students, and volunteers in refining an admissions program that will meet Concordia’s student enrollment and retention goals.

More specific opportunities and challenges include the following:

LEADING AND REFINING THE ADMISSIONS PROGRAM: Supported by a long record of success in the region, the new Vice President will lead from a position of strength in sharpening the strategic focus and operation of the program to assure effectiveness in a rapidly changing and diverse student marketplace. The goal will be a cutting-edge admissions effort that integrates and balances the best practices of high touch relationship building, with the latest high tech strategies that support effective admissions work, positive enrollment outcomes, and strong student retention.

LINKING CAMPUS AND THE STUDENT MARKETPLACE: As a member of the President’s senior staff, the Vice President will be looked to as one of the College’s key educational leaders. In this capacity, the Vice President will be positioned to play a very important role as the campus community seeks to fully understand the diverse student marketplace, and as the

mission, program, and activities of the college are presented to prospective students and other public audiences. This role carries with it the expectation that the Vice President will be an active, engaged member of the campus community, as well as a regular participant in the off-campus work that is part of admissions and related outreach programs.

LEVERAGING CONCORDIA’S DISTINCTIVE STRENGTHS: Coupled with an attractive and well-maintained campus, Concordia College has long offered students a strong and clear mission, and a myriad of strong and effective programs, both academic and co-curricular, that provide the foundation for a Concordia education. In addition, over the years, the College has developed a number of distinctive (even unique) programs, such as the pre-collegiate Concordia Language Villages, which is part of a nationally recognized Global Learning program, and, more recently, the Offutt School of Business. The anticipated total renovation of science facilities will further strengthen Concordia’s appeal. Currently, the Concordia faculty is developing an integrative learning experience for students as

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well as a career readiness initiative. There is a widely shared belief that these Concordia points of distinction, and others, can be used more fully and effectively in attracting attention and interest from traditional as well as new student markets.

ENGAGING THE CAMPUS: The Concordia campus community, including members of the Board of Regents and key volunteers, are well aware of the importance and the challenge of marketing the College effectively, and annually meeting student enrollment and retention goals. Even more importantly, they stand ready to help – and they want to be involved! Their strong commitment offers the new Vice President a wonderful moment within which to build a college-wide focus on marketing, outreach and student recruitment. Creative leadership in this area represents both a challenge, and a remarkable opportunity for program development.

FRAMING THE MESSAGE AND TELLING THE STORY: The admissions/marketing challenge is, in many respects, a communications challenge. So it is expected that the new Vice President will work closely with the Senior Director of Communications and Marketing, as well as leaders across the campus, in shaping and fine tuning the Concordia message. It is further assumed that this work will be informed and influenced by regular market research and field experience. Working from this foundation, the Vice President will play a key role in telling the story as he/she speaks frequently on behalf of the College, hosts meetings with prospective students and their families, and works with colleagues and staff, in admissions and across the campus. In all of these ways and more, the Vice President will be an important public face of Concordia College.

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Concordia Distinctions• Within six months of commencement, 98% of graduates

respond that they are employed, in grad school, or serving with organizations such as the Peace Corps.

• Each year about 500 students participate in cooperative education, internship, practicum or experiential learning opportunities.

• Concordia students scored at the 90th percentile in the nation in the Collegiate Learning Assessment of critical thinking and writing skills.

• For a decade, Concordia has ranked in the top 13% of all colleges in the U.S. – regardless of size – in the number of graduates who go on to earn doctorates.

• Concordia students are 10 times more likely to have a study abroad experience than other college students in the U.S. A global focus through the Concordia experience led to the college being the first school in Minnesota honored with the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization by NAFSA.

• Concordia Language Villages creates responsible global citizens by providing world-renowned, one-of-a-kind, pre-collegiate language and culture immersion education experiences in 15 languages to 11,000 participants annually.

• Concordia students who apply to medical school have an 88% chance of acceptance – double the national average.

• Concordia students who apply to law school have an 89% chance of acceptance – exceeding the national average by nearly 20%.

• By the time Concordia students graduate, 33% have engaged in significant undergraduate research with faculty in the natural and social sciences, humanities, and fine arts.

• In 2013-14, Concordia received $1.5 million in academic grants and contracts.

• Concordia is a leader in interfaith cooperation and education and has received national recognition for its interfaith cooperation statement. Students involved in Better Together present regularly at the U.S. President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge conference.

• Concordia shares the highest rank among Lutheran colleges in the percent of grads who are pastors in the ELCA.

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Desired Leadership Attributes

The ideal Vice President will be:

A SEASONED ENROLLMENT PROFESSIONAL who understands enrollment planning and organization, effective search strategy, the application of social media, the use of a CRM system to manage the admissions funnel communication flow, and tuition discounting to achieve enrollment goals, while being well versed in contemporary administrative strategies and committed to the development of personal relationships.

A COLLABORATIVE MANAGER AND STRATEGIST with a track record of effective enrollment talent acquisition and team building, successful experience in territory management to achieve results, and the ability to support, challenge, motivate, and ensure accountability among those responsible for meeting Concordia’s enrollment goals.

A RELATIONSHIP BUILDER who engages people with ease and comfort while exhibiting high personal integrity and ethical standards, has experience in partnering with those

leading institutional retention efforts, and shows a record of success working with faculty and staff partners, alumni and friends of the campus to enhance recruitment.

A PROBLEM SOLVER AND DECISION MAKER with the ability to conduct essential enrollment research, and after careful analysis and consulting to make decisions firmly and expeditiously with appropriate follow through.

A SKILLED AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATOR who is able to give clear and articulate expressions to the many student value-added experiences provided by Concordia as a global liberal arts college of the church.

A TEAM PLAYER WITH ANALYTICAL SKILLS who is able to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty, is resilient following disappointment, and brings a sense of humor to the tasks at hand.

Candidates must have a B.A. (graduate degree preferred) with at least five years of increasingly responsible enrollment management and leadership experience.

About the College

Founded in 1891 by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants who valued education and their religious heritage, the College is committed to its historical mission:

To influence the affairs of the world by sending into society thoughtful and informed men and women dedicated to the Christian life.

Concordia, a liberal arts college of the ELCA, is an inclusive community, welcoming women and men of different backgrounds, religions, and aspirations to join an academic community where the life of faith and pursuit of learning occur in dynamic interaction. There is complete freedom to search for truth, with nothing off limits for inquiry and critique. The Lutheran theological tradition emphasizes that we are all called to serve our neighbor and care for creation. Thus, Concordia strives to equip students for vocation: to use their talents for the sake of the world.

Concordia awards Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees, as well as a Master of Education in World Language Instruction. The curriculum has more than 60 majors and 12 pre-professional programs offered in 20 academic departments and the Offutt School of Business. Several majors also lead to professional licensure, including elementary and secondary education, healthcare administration, long-term care administration, nursing, dietetics, and social work.

The College attracts academic achievers who seek to challenge their intellect and expand their critical thinking skills. Currently nearly 2,400 students from 34 states and 31 countries attend Concordia. Among first-year students in 2014, 30 percent were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and 23 percent have ACT scores above 28. The first- to second-year retention rate is 83 percent.

Concordia College has 175 full-time and 70 part-time faculty, 87 percent of whom hold the highest degree in their field from many of the world’s top graduate universities.

The Concordia experience provides opportunities for students to join faculty in research, perform in world-class music ensembles, compete on a nationally ranked forensics team, play on championship-caliber sports teams, and make their mark in theater, student government, or more than 100 clubs and organizations.

A member of the NCAA Division III and highly competitive Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the college sponsors 11 women’s and 11 men’s varsity sports. A perennial conference title contender in multiple sports, Cobber athletics has also produced 15 Academic All-Americans and eight NCAA Postgraduate Scholars since 2004.

Concordia’s 120-acre campus includes modern and well-maintained facilities that use a variety of instructional technologies. The College has a $38 million campus center, the centerpiece of a $100 million capital campaign completed in 2007. A state-of-the-art facility opened in January 2013 to house the Offutt School of Business, a distinctive approach to business that will further differentiate Concordia College. Upgrades on the outdoor athletic complex have recently been completed.

In summer 2016, Concordia anticipates breaking ground on its largest capital project to date. The College will be renovating its science facilities to accommodate what is needed to deliver a transformational science education in the 21st century – specialized equipment, high functioning labs and innovative teaching spaces. This new home for students and faculty will support a community of scientists who together – novice alongside pro – learn science by doing science. The facility is expected to be ready for classes in fall 2017.

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The College has constructed architecturally authentic year-round educational facilities on 875 acres of college-owned property on Turtle River Lake in northern Minnesota for the Concordia Language Villages, Concordia’s internationally recognized language and cultural immersion program that began in 1961. Youth ages 7-18 and adults of all language experience levels can choose from options in 15 world languages. The Language Villages also works with the corporate community to provide residential language and cultural sessions for employees and has contracted with the Department of Defense to train personnel in Arabic, Russian, and French (ConcordiaLanguageVillages.org).

The College’s commitment to sustainability, locally and globally, is reflected in its construction and use of resources on campus. Concordia’s sustainability vision is interwoven with the commitment to global learning, rooted in an abiding

commitment to ethical deliberation, steeped in the values of the liberal arts, and on the importance of building community (ConcordiaCollege.edu/sustainability).

Concordia benefits from the contributions of an active and engaged Board of Regents and 32,000 alumni in important positions in business, government, education, and service throughout the world.

Moorhead, Minnesota

Separated by the Red River, Fargo-Moorhead is a metropolitan area with a population of over 210,000 with 30,000 students attending three colleges and universities, which cooperate through Tri-College University. The metropolitan area is known for its vibrant arts community, a highly educated workforce, a robust business environment, and excellent pre-K-12 and higher education opportunities. Fargo-Moorhead is culturally diverse; nearly 40 different first languages are represented by the students in the K-12 schools.

Fargo-Moorhead is among the Forbes Top 10 “Best Places for Business and Careers” and “Top College Towns for Jobs.” The community serves as the corporate headquarters for Phoenix International, American Crystal Sugar, Bell State Bank and Trust, Scheels, Bobcat, and RDO Equipment. Case New Holland, NAVTEQ, Microsoft Corporation, and Sanford Health, the nation’s largest non-profit integrated rural health care system, also have a significant presence in the community.

Fargo-Moorhead has a vibrant entrepreneurial community that fosters innovators addressing the most pressing challenges of our time.

The Process of Candidacy

Nominations and expressions of interest may be submitted electronically to: Linda Brown, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Chair, Vice President for Enrollment Search Committee ConcordiaVPE@agbsearch.com

Candidates are asked to submit electronically in MS Word or Adobe PDF: (1) a letter of interest reflecting on the leadership attributes noted above, (2) a resume, and (3) the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of five references. References will not be contacted without first securing the permission of the candidate. To receive full consideration, materials should be received on or before Friday, December 12, 2014.

This search is being assisted by: Richard L. Torgerson, Ph.D. Senior Consultant, AGB Search (563) 380-4919 (cell) rlt@agbsearch.com

Loren Anderson, Ph.D. Senior Consultant, AGB Search (253) 223-3566 (cell) lja@agbsearch.com

Additional information about the College may be found at: ConcordiaCollege.edu

Concordia College is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer and encourages the candidacies of women and persons of color.

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APPENDIX

The Strategic Plan

Concordia College is a global liberal arts college of the church, a college dedicated to preparing students to be responsibly engaged in the world. In support of this work, the Board of Regents adopted the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, Whole Self, Whole Life, Whole World.

The Strategic Plan is a living, active document which sets a mission-driven and innovative direction for the college that depends upon the entire Concordia community’s imagination, experience, and energy.

The plan declares clearly that Concordia will offer students an education of the whole self, for the whole of life, for the sake of the whole world. The College believes deeply that the liberal arts matter and, in fact, are necessary in an era of economic anxiety, population change, global competition, and technological innovation.

The goal is to build competence, creativity, and character among our students: to prepare Concordia graduates to influence the affairs of the world by sending into society thoughtful and informed men and women dedicated to the Christian life.

Highlights from the Strategic Plan include an integrative learning model, a career readiness initiative and new programs that will draw new students to the college.

Integrative Learning: A key strength of Concordia is its history of blending liberal arts with applied learning and its commitment to collaborative learning with college faculty and staff. To better accommodate these goals, the College is re-imagining a residential liberal arts education that goes beyond the accumulation of course credits. The Faculty Senate voted in October to design a 4-4-1 academic year.

The College connects theoretical elements of the curriculum with the complex situations, problems, and questions students will encounter in the world. The College facilitates intensive contact between students and experiences in the workplace, in international settings, and in research settings. Deeply woven in this initiative is intentional and pervasive attention to vocational discernment and career development. This starts with incoming freshmen and builds throughout a student’s

time at Concordia. Upon graduation students should have reflected deeply upon their vocation, prepared themselves with highly competitive skill development, and developed a good understanding of how their careers will benefit society while providing personal satisfaction.

Career Initiative: The College has developed the framework for an innovative career readiness initiative. The initiative is grounded in the Lutheran concept of vocation, establishes pathways to career readiness for all students and is built on the principles of exploration, reflection, clarification, and transition. The initiative’s goals are to create connections with faculty and staff, to expand external opportunities for internships, to enhance opportunities for students to interact with alumni, and to prepare students for post-graduation success.

New Students/New Programs: In a time of enrollment challenges, the College is exploring ways to reach new kinds of students with programs that extend Concordia’s mission and draw on its strengths. A working group of faculty and staff has identified recommendations for short-term and long-term opportunities. These opportunities include working more closely in recruiting transfer students and offering accelerated programs, graduate programs, and non-baccalaureate programming. Work is in progress to accredit the new Master of Science in Dietetics Leadership, which builds on the strengths of the College’s accredited undergraduate dietetics program.

Faith and Learning: Concordia abides in valuing its founding, heritage, and missional expressions as a college within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Here, intellect and faith are recognized to be mutually active and needful partners among faculty, staff, and students. In spring of 2014, the campus community engaged in a formalized action-research study of worship, faith, and spiritual practices. Discoveries from this study inform and clarify the College’s vocation amidst a contemporary context that is increasingly diverse, complex, and multifaceted. Because of dedication to prepare global citizens who will foster wholeness and hope, cultivate peace through understanding, and serve the world together, Concordia has a growing commitment to practice intra-religious and inter-religious cooperation for the benefit of all.