University of Toledo hires interim vice president of enrollment management

The division of enrollment management at the University of Toledo hired James Mager as interim vice president on Oct. 20.

Meghan Cunningham, a spokesperson for UT, wrote in an email interview that Mager’s contract extends until May 13, 2016 and his salary will be $103,000.

During his first week here, Mager said he started out strongly with good first encounters between himself and the staff of the enrollment management division.

“I had a chance to meet individually and collectively with the different directors of the offices,” Mager said. “We did what we called a town hall meeting where all the staff was invited to come and talk and we asked them ahead of time what kind of things they wanted to talk about and we were able to talk about that and I felt it was great.”

Kristen Keith, president of Faculty Senate, said she was excited about Mager’s appointment into the position.

“The majority of the Faculty Senate executive committee was there, and we went into the meeting just to talk to him [Mager] and I left hoping that he would accept the job,” Keith said.

Keith felt Mager had good ideas about what to do in both the short and long terms to help increase enrollment. She said he was able to understand the data presented to him and communicated openly with the faculty under his division.

“They have to have the willingness to engage in that kind of communication,” Keith said, “I had some issues with the former VP of enrollment mostly because I was not certain that he completely understood his own data.”

Mager explained that his plan for enrollment was to focus on a number of factors and analyze how best to reach the students that are coming to UT.

“There is no one strategy; there is no one silver bullet. What institutions I have worked with previously is a large array of strategies that curiously make a big difference, starting with student improvement,” Mager said.

A more customized and personal outreach technique as well as the broad mass-advertising strategy are key to solving the problem of enrollment, he said.

“Taking an analytical approach, understanding the students’ wants and taking again the limited resources and putting those dollars where it will best benefit the students as far as access to the University of Toledo as well as graduation,” Mager said.

Cunningham wrote Mager’s job while he is at the university is to help further Gaber’s plan to raise enrollment and retention rates.

“Dr. Mager will provide leadership to the enrollment management division as the university develops strategies to strengthen enrollment recruitment and retention,” Cunningham wrote. “He will partner with Ruffalo Noel Levitz in identifying, analyzing and implementing initiatives to optimize recruitment, retention, financial aid, scholarship and web resources.”

Mager has worked at a variety of universities across the state, including working at the Ohio State University for 31 years in four or five different positions.

“Dr. Mager has more than 40 years [of] experience in higher education including a variety of enrollment management positions at Ohio State University, such as associate vice president for enrollment services,” Cunningham wrote. “He also served as an associate vice president for Ruffalo Noel Levitz.”

Cunningham wrote that during Mager’s time here, the university will be conducting a search to find a more permanent person for this position.