What are your responsibilities and who are your executive peers at Northeastern?
Along with myself there are five Senior Vice Presidents—Provost, Finance & Administration, Executive Affairs, Institutional Advancement. My division spans the first point of contact in admissions and recruiting all the way to alumni/ae affairs. Our services involve all points of contact with the student outside the classroom—admissions, career services, retention, financial aid, registration, health and counseling, intercollegiate and intramural athletics, housing, cultural centers, student accounts, and the university's call center.
What's your enrollment for 2009-10, and is it up or down?
We have about 25,000 students, undergraduates and graduate students. We hold our freshman class size constant at 2,802, and we received 37,000-plus applications for those freshman seats. Our total enrollment is increasing about 4 percent each year, partly because our retention and graduation rates are increasing dramatically.
What percentage of your students would you characterize as 'achievers?'
We are proud that Northeastern students want a college experience that's broader than it is traditional. More than 95 percent of them engage in some form of experiential learning here. The large number of them that I would classify as achievers are helping us push the envelope every year. For example, it's not unusual for a Northeastern student to pursue his or her co-op experience in New York, London and Hong Kong.
How do you identify an achiever prior to acceptance and enrollment?
Basic academic readiness comes first. Every application is read thoroughly, and the counselor is looking carefully for evidence of creativity, diversity, engagement, leadership resiliency and global perspective. Our admissions staff are trained and re-trained to spot the characteristics. We apply considerable resources to polish the talent in our admissions organization. The results are readily evident in our student body.
What services are especially important at a school with a significant population of achievers?
Actually, its the academic services themselves. We are intent on offering a breadth of academic work. A serious student can layer his or her academic accomplishments in a number of ways--and be assisted by an academic advisor and a co-op advisor while doing so.
What features of a co-op education are trademarks at Northeastern?
We have been a leader in our field for 100 years. Northeastern has active relationships with 2,000 employers in 96 cities and 52 countries. Over 98 percent of the co-op positions are paid. It's understood that the work experience and the social network that comes with it provides real added value to the degree.
Northeastern is often thought of as a five-year school. Are you creating express tracks?
Yes. We've just added a four-year option that will launch in fall 2010. Near the end of the freshman year, a student who chooses to complete in four years can elect two co-op experiences rather than three. This caused some debate on campus. And it's important to understand that flexibility is respected here, whereas a quality student experience is paramount.
What does online learning add to the undergraduate Northeastern experience?
It adds flexibility. For example, while a student is working a co-op job, he or she can start and finish an elective course. Also, what better place to investigate a business case study than while on the job at a business?