̽»¨Â¥

It has been 35 years since ̽»¨Â¥ held the first Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Conference, and nearly 50 years since the principles of SEM were first developed. While enrollment management has matured considerably in the interim, our work continues to evolve as we face new challenges to recruitment, retention, and student success. This issue of SEM Quarterly speaks to how current SEM practitioners are increasing our understanding of relationship management, sense of belonging, tailored support, pre-planning, bias, institutional differentiation, and student success.

Relationship management has long been essential in enrollment management, including empathy, personalization, communication, and flexibility. Focusing on the core challenges of student staff attrition in higher education, Joseph Mews provides a qualitative analysis of existing literature on the Platinum Rule's core principles and best practices for leaders to consider when developing an approach to maximize staff potential and create an environment where students can flourish.

An increasing number of institutions offer dual credit programs that permit high school students to take college courses while still in high school. Polly Hulsey investigated, through a qualitative, phenomenological approach, whether the sense of belonging among dual credit students influenced their choice to pursue the completion of their certification/degree at their local community college. This study identified the transformative potential of dual credit programs when implemented focusing on student belonging and support.

First-generation students represent a growing group of postsecondary students, yet they have lower retention and graduation rates than second-generation students. Aimee Leturmy explored, through semi-structured interviews, the experiences of first-generation students at a private, business-focused university. Findings emphasize the need for tailored support for this growing student population.

Institutional readiness for change is necessary for the best opportunity to succeed. Stephanie Ivan discusses the role of preplanning in organic strategic enrollment management by focusing on four key elements: efforts, to connect and affect enrollment, through linkages, and understanding enrollment influencers. She suggests that pre-planning that is rooted in the institution's organizational context is the precursor to effective SEM planning.

Most current research on holistic admissions processes focus on undergraduate and doctoral admissions, leaving a research gap at the master's level. Alyssa Orlando conducted an exploratory study, through interviews with multiple admissions professionals, that examined potential bias within the holistic master’s admissions process. Findings suggest that bias exists within master's admissions and that the review challenges differ from previously researched undergraduate and doctoral processes.

Many community colleges face considerable enrollment challenges. Gregory Benedict discusses how developing and utilizing a SEM plan as a central planning framework has increased one community college's enrollment, retention rate, and graduation rate. By recommitting to student success and the implementation of a cohort-based intrusive advising model, based on student data and needs, the college uncovered gaps within the graduation rate, which led to the introduction of mentorship experiential learning inside and outside the classroom.

We also include one book review. Tammy Johnson introduces us to The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future (2022), which explores the biases embedded in digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, and reveals their transformative potential and ethical challenges they pose for higher education.

As the SEM community addresses today's challenges while planning for the needs of a new generation of learners, we must continue growing our scholarship and sharing best and promising practices. Hopefully, this SEMQ edition will provide research and insights to help us achieve student success and institutional health. Full speed ahead!

Happy reading.