Degree Discipline

Graduate Enrollment Management: A Case Study on Enrollment Managers (open access)

Graduate Enrollment Management: A Case Study on Enrollment Managers

Graduate enrollment management (GEM) is an area of enrollment management that focuses on graduate and professional education. GEM's responsibilities can include various functions such as strategic planning, marketing, recruitment and admissions, academic advising, financial aid, student services, retention, and alumni relations. The comprehensive structure of GEM puts a significant amount of pressure on enrollment managers as its unique interdependence model creates an environment where professionals must be cross-trained in several areas, manage through grey areas, cultivate relationships with personnel across the campus, accomplish department goals, support their student population, and all while staying in alignment with the institutional mission. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore GEM from an enrollment managers perspective. The theoretical framework that guided this study was interdependence theory, and examined the following research questions: (1) How do graduate enrollment managers explain their roles in their respective departments and at their institution? (2) How do graduate enrollment managers explain the factors influencing their work? (3) What key stakeholders do graduate enrollment managers identify as influencing their roles and their work? (4) How do graduate enrollment managers balance demands from these stakeholders? Seventeen graduate enrollment managers working at a large research university were interviewed in-depth. The …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Bernard, Natalie
System: The UNT Digital Library