Upper Iowa University creates Integrated Enrollment Center to improve student services, reduce costs
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Upper Iowa University officially opened the Integrated Enrollment Center (IEC) recently. The IEC will streamline and automate all enrollment paperwork and processes for prospective and current students across the University. Cutting the ribbon (from left) are Bob Firth, UIU board chair; Betty Firth, trustee; David Wallace; IEC consultant; Barry Smith, trustee; Terry Smid, director of information services; Graeme Armstrong, trustee; Bryan Jolley, executive director of facilities management and services; Leon Wyden, associate vice president for finance and planning; UIU President Alan G. Walker; Don Aungst, executive vice president and chief financial and planning officer; Holly Streeter, registrar; Jodi Jeanes, student enrollment support coordinator; Jeanne Barnes, director of financial aid; Carol Katsumes, online academic advising coordinator; Michelle Zander, student enrollment outreach coordinator; Mary Schultz, director of operations; and Monica Bayer Heaton, executive director of communications and marketing. More photos can be found on Flicker. |
FAYETTE, Iowa (April 20, 2012) – Upper Iowa University has officially opened a new Integrated Enrollment Center (IEC) that will combine and coordinate "back office" functions across the university to recruit new students and provide enrollment services to current students through graduation.
The IEC is located in Garbee Hall on the Fayette Campus and will serve the entire University, which currently has more than 6,800 students worldwide. In support of the Fayette campus, all 17 U.S. and 3 international centers, as well as the University's online and independent study programs, the IEC includes what had been six different offices in several locations: document and information processing; recruiting; advising and registration; financial aid; an inbound call center; and a lead conversion outbound contact team.
UIU President Alan G. Walker said creation of the IEC was spurred by the rapid growth of Upper Iowa, which has seen steady enrollment increases for seven consecutive years University-wide, including a 48 percent increase in the number of students at the Fayette campus since 2005. In the past seven years, UIU has also seen significant increases in the number of students at its international centers and in its online program and the University also opened five new U.S. education centers.
"Integrating our University-wide functions was a gargantuan task of understanding the complexity of our existing enrollment processes and reorganizing them to be more efficient and effective," Walker added. "This initiative took University-wide cooperation and collaboration as we realigned staff and reporting lines, developed new policies, and significantly changed this area of our operations. The result is better services for our students, and that's what we're all about."
"We are using technology to create a student-focused, paperless enrollment process that will serve UIU students from the time they first become interested in the University through when they graduate and become alums," said Melik Peter Khoury, senior vice president for strategic positioning, chief strategic enrollment and marketing officer, who spearheaded the IEC initiative. "For the first time, the IEC will give the entire University a seamless enrollment process that maximizes efficiency, enhances student services, and reduces costs by minimizing duplication and waste. We are still in the first days of working with new technology and new procedures in the IEC, which requires ironing out the kinks, but we are well on our way to reaching our goal."
UIU has named Dr. Allen Thompson associate vice present of the IEC, effective May 1. A Los Angeles native, Thompson earned a bachelor's degree in communication/journalism from the University of Colorado at Butler, a masters in professional writing at Kennesaw State University and a doctorate in education and human resource studies from Colorado State University. Beginning as an admissions counselor, he has a long career in higher education, including associate dean of financial aid and admissions at Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, Ill.; associate dean at DeVry University/Keller Graduate School of Management; associate dean of academic affairs at ITT Technical Institute; and administrative positions at the University of Denver and KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
About Upper Iowa University
Founded in 1857, Upper Iowa University is a private, not-for-profit university providing undergraduate and graduate degree programs and leadership development opportunities to over 6,800 students—nationally and internationally—at its Fayette campus and learning centers worldwide. Upper Iowa University is a recognized innovator in offering accredited, quality programs through flexible, multiple delivery systems, including online and independent study.
Contact:
Monica Bayer Heaton
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Phone: 563-425-5773
Cell: 515-291-2070
heatonm@uiu.edu