By Autumn Walden, Editor, ̽»¨Â¥ Connect, Content Strategy Manager, ̽»¨Â¥
Strategic Enrollment Management is a long-term, institution-wide approach that shapes who enrolls, how they thrive, and how the institution fulfills its mission. But how does it look in real life when our industry is faced with volatile ups and downs in data and lived experience? In August 2025, arrivals of international students to U.S. campuses dropped by 19% year-over-year, putting pressure on institutions that depend on global recruitment, . Other projections by the suggest that 2025 marks the peak of the high school graduate pipeline, with declines expected thereafter.
This November, you can get a front-row, roundtable, or breakout session perspective of breakthroughs in strategy at the 35th Annual ̽»¨Â¥ SEM Conference in Las Vegas. In this ̽»¨Â¥ SEM preview, you’ll hear about from Brian Gann of Wake Technical Community College and about from Sean Bridgen of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising.
Whether you’re new to SEM or returning with fresh challenges, this event offers you direction, tools, and inspiration, alongside colleagues ready to form new professional relationships and strengthen SEM Teams of five or more. Take advantage of the ̽»¨Â¥ group rate at the Horseshoe Las Vegas by the October 16 hotel priority deadline, and make time to join our upcoming “Know Before You Go” webinar on October 21 to get primed and prepared.
In the breakout session, “ ,” learn how Wake Technical Community College's enrollment and student services teams are expanding their workforce with AI to reduce busywork, manage repetitive tasks and questions, and help to create scalability for a college that serves 72,000 students annually in degree and non-degree offerings.
“Every higher education leader is faced with AI on a daily basis, and we are all learning in real time the power and limitations of these tools,” said Brian Gann, Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services at Wake Technical Community College. “Wake Tech is working to ride the wave of AI by adding power to our teams that expands capacity. Because we know if we don’t ride the top of the wave, it may crash down over us. We are excited to share with our fellow practitioners how we are thinking about agentic AI as a capacity multiplier to manage the growth we have been blessed to see in terms of enrollment in the last five years.”
What insights do you hope attendees gain?
For attendees who are skeptical about AI, I want them to know I’ve been right there with them, and I still am to some degree. I hope attendees will be encouraged to get started on incorporating AI into their teams if they have not.
I still see limitations and issues as we continue our implementation. But I also see gains we are making in response times and in the reduction of phone calls as we become more AI-forward in how we serve our students.
Now is the time to learn, to pilot, and to grow to scale. Speed wins in enrollment management, and AI can be our fastest teammate.
The breakout session, “ ” offers a candid, conversational exploration of academic advising’s deeper purposes and why understanding this purpose is essential for effective SEM strategy.
“Too often, we operate in silos—which isn’t always problematic—but when it comes to SEM and academic advising, those silos sometimes create what appear to be conflicting purposes,” said Dr. Sean Bridgen, Associate Director of External and Institutional Partnerships at NACADA. “These differences can generate healthy tension, but they can also lead to unnecessary friction between departments. After more than two decades in academic advising as both a practitioner and scholar, and six years in registrar’s offices implementing student information systems, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of viewing our institutions through a systemic lens. By looking deeper and aligning the underlying purposes of our work, we have an opportunity to create shared incentives that support SEM, strengthen advising, improve institutional enrollment health, and—most importantly—help learners set and achieve their goals.”
What insights do you hope attendees gain?
I hope attendees come away with a clearer understanding of how SEM and academic advising can work in concert rather than in competition. By recognizing the shared goals beneath our different functions, we can move from managing tensions to building collaborations that truly serve students and strengthen enrollment health.
I want participants to see practical ways to align advising practices with enrollment strategy, so that our systems, policies, and people are all working toward helping learners complete their educational goals.
At a time when every student, strategy, and percentage point matters, your engagement in this year’s
̽»¨Â¥ SEM Conference can help turn data into direction for your institution’s future.