The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education
Release Date: 01/06/2026
The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
In this episode of the , Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with , assistant dean of Extended Learning and director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College, one of the nation’s highest-performing community colleges. The conversation focuses on why enrollment challenges persist even at strong institutions and how treating enrollment as a shared responsibility—rather than a system with clear executive ownership—creates fragmentation across admissions, student services, academics, and outcomes. Dr. Predoehl explains the Chief Enrollment Management Officer concept and why a cabinet-level...
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How Stevens Tech Became One of the Strongest Transformation Stories in Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
Institutional transformation in higher education is often described in broad terms. At Stevens Institute of Technology, describes transformation in operational terms: disciplined strategic planning, academic realignment, and year-after-year execution systems that produced what Dr. Drumm McNaughton calls the Stevens Miracle. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Nariman Farvardin, President of Stevens Institute of Technology, about how Stevens achieved sustained success since he became president in 2011. Under Dr. Farvardin’s leadership,...
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Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education enters 2026 under conditions that are no longer hypothetical. In this 8th annual end-of-year episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies to review how the predictions made at the end of 2024 played out during the 2025 operating year and what those outcomes mean for institutional planning in 2026. Rather than offering speculative forecasts, this episode uses 2025 as a calibration year. When predictions materialize, they remove ambiguity. They clarify which pressures are structural, which risks persist,...
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Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), about the findings of the and what they reveal about employer expectations for higher education. Based on nearly 20 years of longitudinal research, the 2025 survey challenges many of the dominant public narratives about the value of college. Employers continue to express strong confidence in higher education, place equal importance on workforce preparation...
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Higher Education Communication Strategy Under Political Pressure and Crisis Risk
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Higher education communication is no longer a marketing function. It is a strategic discipline shaped by political pressure, governance risk, and real-time public scrutiny. In this episode of the , speaks with , Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas at , about how university presidents and boards must rethink how communication functions inside their institutions under today’s crisis-driven conditions. Drawing on more than two decades of enterprise and higher education communications leadership, Maffei explains why internal communication now determines external...
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Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the , speaks with , CNN political analyst, filmmaker, and director of , about how institutions can reclaim their narrative and through authentic human stories. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, and senior leaders navigating public skepticism, political pressure, and communication environments where external voices often define higher education’s story. Some of the Topics Covered The forces driving negative public narratives about higher education...
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Innovation in Higher Education: How Leaders Build the Capacity to Adapt
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Higher education leaders are being asked to innovate faster than their institutions are built to move. This episode of Changing Higher Ed explores how presidents and boards can change that. Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Erika Liodice, Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation (AFIT), about how institutions can strengthen their innovation capacity through futures thinking, cross-sector insight, and structured team-based planning. Topics Covered: How futures thinking helps leaders anticipate demographic, workforce, and technology shifts Why innovation efforts fail...
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Accreditation Trends and WASC Priorities for Student Success
Changing Higher Ed
are shifting under rising accountability pressures, financial constraints, and increased scrutiny of student outcomes. This episode of the features , President and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), in a strategic conversation with about how institutions can strengthen accreditation readiness and support stronger student success. This episode is essential for presidents, provosts, trustees, and senior leaders responsible for accreditation, mission alignment, evidence systems, governance oversight, and long-term institutional resilience. Topics Covered How...
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The Real Cost of Overlooking Teaching Quality in Higher Ed
Changing Higher Ed
Improving how teaching happens in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to increase student retention, stabilize tuition revenue, and strengthen institutional reputation—yet most universities don’t manage it strategically. In this episode of , speaks with , Associate Professor at the University of Iowa and author of The Missing Course, about how teaching quality has fallen outside institutional oversight and what presidents and boards can do to make it a core part of strategic leadership. They explore how governance structures, incentive systems, and faculty preparation create a...
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Free Speech on College Campuses: Insights from FIRE's 2025 Report
Changing Higher Ed
Free speech on college campuses has become one of higher education’s most volatile and defining challenges. In this episode, talks with , Chief Research Advisor at FIRE—the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression—about findings from FIRE’s newly released and the state of academic freedom, the growing political pressures on universities, and how presidents and boards can protect open dialogue in today’s divided climate. Topics Covered: Why FIRE expanded its mission beyond higher education and no longer stands for “Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.” How...
info_outlineIn this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Dan Predoehl, assistant dean of Extended Learning and director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College, one of the nation’s highest-performing community colleges.
The conversation focuses on why enrollment challenges persist even at strong institutions and how treating enrollment as a shared responsibility—rather than a system with clear executive ownership—creates fragmentation across admissions, student services, academics, and outcomes. Dr. Predoehl explains the Chief Enrollment Management Officer concept and why a cabinet-level role is increasingly necessary to align enrollment strategy with institutional mission, student success, and long-term viability.
Drawing on experience across community colleges and four-year institutions, the discussion examines how enrollment, retention, completion, workforce alignment, and equity outcomes are shaped by leadership structure—not just tactics.
Topics Covered:
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Why enrollment is a system, not a department
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How diffused responsibility undermines retention and completion
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The limits of presidential oversight without executive enrollment ownership
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How workforce alignment strengthens enrollment strategy
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Why open access increases the need for strategic focus
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The role faculty partnership plays in sustainable enrollment management
Three Key Takeaways for Higher Education Leaders:
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Enrollment outcomes reflect system design, not individual office performance
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Retention, completion, and workforce alignment are core enrollment responsibilities
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Institutions risk long-term instability when enrollment lacks clear executive ownership
This episode is especially relevant for presidents, provosts, enrollment leaders, and senior administrators looking beyond short-term fixes toward structural solutions to enrollment pressure.
Read the transcript and extended show summary:
https://changinghighered.com/chief-enrollment-management-officer-in-higher-education/
#HigherEducation #EnrollmentManagement #HigherEducationPodcast