Division of Enrollment, Marketing and Communications Report to the Faculty – February, 2017 Stefanie Niles, Vice President

Directors’ reports follow:

Admissions – Cathy Davenport ’87, Dean of Admissions I am writing this report on January 30 and three admissions deadline have passed and one deadline is remaining for the Class of 2021. Below are the application numbers to date.

App Plan Fall 2017 Fall 2016 Fall 2015 Fall 2017 Fall Fall Apps Apps Apps Enrolls 2016 2015 Enrolls Enrolls Early 274 278 307 199 219 248 Decision I Nov. 15 Early Action 3012 3005 2850 Dec. 1 Early 91 82 95 Decision II Jan. 15 Regular 1748 1951 1930 Decision Feb. 1 Total 5125 5316 5182

Early Action: By the time we meet on February 7, we will have notified our students online of their admissions decisions. Accepted students will also be sent an enrollment packet via postal mail. Yield initiatives will begin immediately via congratulatory tweets, emails, phone calls, personal notes, invitations to visit/revisit, school counselor notifications and a postcard campaign (Celebrate and Congratulate). Enrolled Early Decision students and accepted Early Action students will be invited to attend the Class of 2021 Preview Day on Thursday, March 2.

Early Decision 2 (ED2): Although the published deadline was January 15, we continue to accept new ED2 applicants as well as convert Early Action applicants and Regular Decision applicants to ED2. While conversion from Early Action or Regular Decision to ED2 does not increase application numbers, if the student is accepted, it allows us to enroll another committed student thereby decreasing the number of acceptances in Regular Decision. ED2 accepted students will be notified of a decision in mid-February.

On-Campus Yield Events: Five programs for accepted students will be held in the next three months – March 2 for enrolled Early Decision and Early Action students; April 5, 12, and 19 for accepted Early Action and Regular Decision students; April 8 for all enrolled and accepted students.

Off-Campus Yield Events: Alumni and parent volunteers who are members of DAVS, as well as members of Alumni Council and the Board of Trustees, will be hosting a series of yield receptions to bring our admitted and enrolled students and families together in their local communities.

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The following events are confirmed: March 26 - Los Angeles and Washington, DC April 2 - Philadelphia April 3 - Portland, ME April 4 - Baltimore April 5 - Northern NJ

Planning continues for Pittsburgh, New York City, West Chester, Boston, Connecticut and Central New Jersey.

Dickinson Admissions Volunteers: Alumni and parent volunteers have been quite busy assisting with an increased number of off-campus interview requests. For a third year, the requests for off-campus interviews have increased as students have been encouraged to participate in this opportunity to learn more about Dickinson.

Interviews as of January 30 for each cycle year 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 Requested and 21 173 165 72 198 Assigned Completed 500 577 793 1062 942 Total 521 750 958 1134 1140

Faculty, students, alumni and parents of current students will be involved in communicating with admitted students and their parents over the next several months leading to May 1 (the National Candidates Reply Date). Our goal is to have students and families experience the Dickinson community by hearing from a variety of voices.

Discover Dickinson Day: We have begun our recruitment work with the classes of 2022 and 2023. A number of high school juniors and sophomores attended an afternoon visit program on January 16 (Martin Luther King Day) and others will attend introductory visit days on February 20 (Presidents’ Day) and April 17.

Central Pennsylvania Consortium Counselor Tour: Approximately 30 college counselors from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington will visit Dickinson on March 28 to attend classes, tour facilities, and meet with students and faculty. Participants in this college tour will also visit Gettysburg and Franklin and Marshall.

Athletics – Joe Giunta, Director Brad Fordyce was hired as our new head football coach effective January 25. Fordyce comes to Dickinson from Bucknell University where he joined the Bucknell staff in the winter of 2014 and worked closely with the Bison linebackers, producing six All-Patriot League LBs while serving as the program's recruiting coordinator. He spent the previous seven years as the defensive coordinator at Susquehanna University, where he helped lead the Crusaders to a Liberty League title and an NCAA playoff appearance in 2009. He also assisted with the punting, punt return and kickoff teams, all coming on the heels of nine seasons with McDaniel College.

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The search for new head women’s soccer coach should be completed by February 3. Former Dickinson football coach Ed Sweeney passed away on January 28. Specific details on funeral arrangements are still pending. There are tentative plans to hold a memorial service on campus in the coming weeks. Once confirmed the details will be shared with the community. The Dickinson men's and women's swim teams were part of a record-setting year, earning both programs’ 45th consecutive selection as a College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America Team. The Red Devil men and women have achieved the honor in each of the past 45 semesters, combining for a team grade-point-average of above a 3.0. The men’s squash team is ranked #21 in the country and our women’s team #20. Most recently the ladies swept both Denison University and Wellesley and beat Haverford 8-1. The men have posted impressive wins recently over Tufts, Bowdoin and Haverford.

Financial Aid – Richard Heckman, Director Later this week we will release acceptances and financial aid award letters for our Early Action pool of applicants for the class of 2021. As our cost of attendance continues to increase but the ability and willingness of our applicants’ families to pay those costs does not, it will be a challenge to enroll the students we need without seeing an increase in the discount rate. Our discount rate for those offered admission in the Early Action group this year is a little over 25%. However, since more aided students accept our offer of admission than those without aid, we know the discount rate will increase for those who actually enroll. Last year, for example, the offered discount rate to the Early Action pool was about 28%; it climbed to over 49% by the time the fall semester started.

To control growth in the discount rate, and meet budgetary requirements, awareness of need will be increasingly critical as we move into the Regular Decision pool.

Institutional Research – Jason Rivera, Director Activities from December and January included:

• Submitted the Common Data Set (CDS) to the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium and posted the document to our web site (found under the Reports section). • Compiled information and updated the Faculty page on the IR web site. • Submitted the Pennsylvania Resident Graduation Rate 2015-2016 survey to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. • Submitted the Freshman Admissions and Student Financial Aid survey to the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP). • Completed the College Board and Princeton guidebook surveys. • Submitted the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 200% Graduation Rates survey. • Posted the Mini Facts publication to our web site (found under the Reports section), which includes admissions, financial, enrollment, retention, faculty, alumni giving rates and information on the most recent graduating class.

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• Participated in the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) 2017 Count by Legislative District survey. • Assisted the Princeton Review with the Undergraduate Student survey. Their aim is to collect student opinion on academics, campus life, administration, and student body concerns. • Prepared a discussion proposal for first-generation coding and presented the document to Power Users in mid-January. A full discussion of the proposal is expected to take place at the next Power Users meeting. • Submitted report modifications for cohort-related Cognos reports, which play a role in retention analysis. The changes will make it easier to merge the report data with other information that is available via Banner and custom data tables. Testing of the modifications is underway. • Modified the Enrollment Snapshot Query to take into account redesigned SAT scores. For the purposes of the predictive model, IR is following College Board implementation guidelines and converting new scores to the old scale. IR partnered with LIS to build the beginnings of a custom score conversion table that can provide a sustainable and flexible way to convert scores for this project and future projects which may require conversion of scores from the old scale to new scale or vice versa. • Created a document outlining the test scores that admissions is interfacing out of Slate. The document is shared by staff in IR, admissions and financial aid and can be used for future conversations about which scores are being interfaced, where they are stored in Slate and where they may be available in Banner or custom data tables. • Collaborated with the Writing Center on updating the Fall 2016 First-Year Seminar and Writing Intensive Course Evaluation and created the landing page used for survey data entry for the individual courses. • Administered the Off-Campus Programs survey for a new cohort of students supplied by the Center for Global Studies and Engagement. • Started work on an historic analysis of the sources of inquiry conversion in admissions. Part 1 of the analysis focused on sources for the fall 2017 entering class. Part 2 will compared data for the classes entering fall 2016 and fall 2017. • Constructed FY 2017 Enrollment Prediction Model for Admissions. • Reported on Gender Bias from student evaluations to the Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC). • Began work on interviews for student experiences in LGBTQ and First-Generation communities. • Working with Susan Rose in Qualitative Research Methods class to help students conduct more student interviews/focus groups around issues of diversity/identity. • Developed survey to assess student experience with student conduct system. • Completed Fall Sport evaluations and began developing Winter Sport evaluations. • Attended HEDS (Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium; Jason Rivera is a board member) Board Retreat at Wabash College. • Sent daily Enrollment Modeling Snapshots to Admissions and Financial Aid. • Managed enrollment and shaping for the incoming class of 2017.

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Marketing and Communications – Connie McNamara, Executive Director

Media Relations – Christine Baksi and Craig Layne In the months of December and January, there were 470 national and 38 international mentions of Dickinson in the news.

Highlights:

The discovery of a python found with three digested deer in its gut in the Florida Everglades was published by Prof. Scott Boback and a team of researchers in the journal Bioinvasions Records. The discovery became the subject of national science news with stories in Live Science, Vox, IFLScience, WSVN News Miami, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald. More than 20 Tribune newspapers across the country also published the story. Prof. Boback was quoted extensively in a National Geographic story about a python found nestling its 16 eggs in an Australian yard. He discussed the delicate nature of embryos in snake eggs.

Prof. Ted Merwin was interviewed by NPR during a sit-down conversation with Joel Rose at the Carnegie Deli. The story about the iconic eatery’s permanent closing aired on All Things Considered and was featured on the websites of more than 25 NPR member stations. Merwin also was quoted in USA Today’s special section on New York delis and discussed why Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas for a story on Mic.com.

Center for Sustainability Education director Neil Leary published two new blogs on The Huffington Post: “5 Things To Do About Climate Change, Just In Time For The New Year” and “Businesses, Innovation and Markets Can Beat Climate Change.” Leary also was interviewed about Donald Trump backtracking on climate change policy. His commentary ran in the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Times.

“The Rise of HillBilly Music,” a lecture presented by Prof. Cotten Seiler in his AMST course, “Racial Politics of American Popular Music,” was taped by C-SPAN for its series “Lectures in History.” It aired twice and is archived and available for viewing on C-SPAN’s website.

Prof. Jim Hoefler argued families should have discussions about end-of-life priorities as part of holiday gift giving in an op-ed for STAT News.

Dickinson ranked #4 among the top 10 baccalaureate institutions on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of Top-Performing Institutions for Sustainability.

Editorial Services and Dickinson Magazine – Matt Getty and Michelle Simmons

Editorial services staff wrote or edited 42 new online articles during the last two months – November 29 – January30, promoting college priorities and key messages, several with overlapping themes: Scholarships/Higher Education Access 4 Student-Faculty Research 3 Civic Engagement/Service 2

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Sustainability 3 Global education 4 Admissions 3 Alumni/outcomes 5 Arts 4 Humanities 5 Student Life 2 Social Sciences 5 Sciences 4 Faculty Experts 4 Events/Speakers 5

All of these articles are available at www.dickinson.edu/news. Editorial services staff members also collaborated with design services staff members to create or update 21 print publications serving admissions, college advancement and other college offices.

Dickinson Magazine’s winter 2017 issue featured the President’s Report. Highlights include a $650,000 award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to launch a four-year initiative to enhance civic learning and engagement; the college’s largest applicant pool (6,172) for the class of 2020, resulting in the most diverse class in Dickinson’s history, including 21 percent domestic students of color and 12 percent international students; the launch of the Dickinson Four, a cross-divisional program to help students successfully plan and navigate their four years at Dickinson; and the increased engagement of Dickinson alumni through programs such as the 50th anniversary of global studies and the growth of volunteer programs Dickinson Admissions Volunteer Society, Devils Advocates and Alumni Council. The winter issue also featured a newly available collection of World War II letters among the family of Ralph Minker Sr., class of 1920; Edna Jones, class of 1924; Ralph Leland Minker ’47. Douglas Stuart, professor of political science and international studies; J. William Stuart and Helen D. Stuart Chair in International Studies, Business and Management, authored “Strategizing Foreign Policy,” which made several recommendations to the new Trump administration, including support of the Pivot to Asia. Other highlights of the magazine include a Q-and-A with the 2016-17 Rose- Walters Prize recipient Elizabeth Kolbert and a story about the new Faculty Wear the Red program that supports student-athletes.

Online Marketing – Sarah Sheriff Online Marketing has made significant progress through the administrative page audits. We have updated and refreshed hero images and content on our most frequently visited landing pages. We are also working to update and improve Jadu widgets to enhance the user experience throughout dickinson.edu. Recently, we worked with our editorial team to build the Winter 2017 Dickinson Magazine web pages as well as the 2017 President’s Report. We are also continuing to grow our social media presence to drive traffic to our website. Since December 1, users referred to our site by social media are up by 15%.

Visual Media – Joe O’Neill The following videos were produced and posted since the last report:

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Electronics in Chemistry: Building Spectrophotometers - “One of the most useful skills you could have as a chemist is to know electronics,” says Professor of Chemistry Amy Witter, whose new analytical chemistry class, Destroy Build Destroy, has students building their own spectrophotometers.

Who is General James Mattis? - Jeffrey McCausland, visiting professor of international security studies, talks about then President-elect Trump's nominee for secretary of defense.

Name That Glacier, With Ben Edwards - Ben Edwards, professor of earth sciences at Dickinson College, counts down his list of the top-10 most difficult to pronounce glaciers.

Season's Greetings From Dickinson College – A holiday greeting to the alumni community from Neil Weissman.

Meet the International Student-Athletes of Squash – Four international student-athletes compete on Dickinson’s squash teams.

Greetings from Brad Fordyce, Head Football Coach – A video introduction from Brad Fordyce to the Dickinson community.

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