AVP for Enrollment and Student Success in Chicago, Illinois at Erikson Institute
Explore Related Opportunities
Job Description
Position Summary
The Associate Vice President (AVP) for Enrollment and Student Success provides strategic and operational leadership for the full student experience, from recruitment and admission through enrollment, academic progress, graduation, career development, and alumni engagement. The AVP leads the teams, systems, partnerships, and programs that support enrollment, persistence, completion, and long-term engagement, ensuring a welcoming, responsive, and student-centered experience.
Working closely with the President, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs (SVPAA), faculty, and partners across the institute, the AVP develops strategies that increase enrollment, remove barriers to student success, and deepen alumni relationships. The role serves as a visible, trusted advocate for students at every stage of their relationship with Erikson.
Erikson Institute seeks a leader who is student-centered, equity-minded, and mission-driven, with a track record of building trust across students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners. The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with strong follow-through, uses data to inform decisions without losing sight of individual student needs, and is skilled at identifying and building new partnerships that advance student success. The AVP will work closely with professionals across early childhood, education, social work, mental health, and public policy, fields at the heart of Erikson's mission to improve outcomes for young children, families, and communities.
Primary Responsibilities
Enrollment Strategy and Pipeline Development
- Set the institution-wide enrollment strategy, goals, and priorities, and hold the Director of Admissions accountable for execution and results.Direct an integrated prospective-student journey from inquiry through enrollment, with clear service standards, decision points, and handoffs across units.Support senior leadership in establishing differentiated enrollment goals.Partner with academic program directors on differentiated recruitment strategies for degree and certificate programs.Build and sustain strategic pipelines with colleges, school districts, employers, governmental entities, community-based organizations, and other mission-aligned partners, including models that support enrollment, affordability, and student success.Use market intelligence, enrollment-funnel data, conversion rates, demographic trends, and program-level performance to set priorities and allocate resources.Partner with Marketing and Communications to align enrollment goals, priority audiences, audience insights, and performance data with brand strategy, paid and organic campaigns, content production, and institutional messaging.Ensure recruitment and admission policies and practices are equitable, transparent, compliant, and responsive to graduate and adult learners.
Student Success, Persistence, and Completion
Leadership and Accountability for Directors Within the Portfolio
Outcomes Assessment and Continuous Improvement
Qualifications
Required
- A master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, business, social work, organizational leadership, or a related field.
- Seven+ years of progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education, enrollment management, student affairs, or a closely related area.
- Demonstrated success developing enrollment pipelines, institutional partnerships, or student-success strategies that span multiple stages of the student lifecycle.
- Experience supervising staff, managing budgets, and leading cross-functional teams.
- Demonstrated use of data to establish priorities, assess effectiveness, and improve outcomes.
- Demonstrated experience serving diverse student populations, first-generation students, international students, or students from historically excluded communities.
- Excellent interpersonal, organizational, communication, problem-solving, and relationship-management skills.
- Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, and student-centered practice.
Preferred
- A doctoral degree or substantial progress toward a doctoral degree in a relevant field.
- Experience in a graduate, professional, or specialized higher education institution.
- Experience overseeing recruitment, admission, advising, student engagement, career services, or alumni relations.
- Experience establishing partnerships with employers, colleges, school-districts, or community-based organizations.
- Knowledge of graduate enrollment trends, adult-learner needs, online education, financial-aid processes, accessibility requirements, and student-success practices.
- Experience with customer-relationship management (CRM) systems, student-information systems, or enrollment analytics platforms.
TO APPLY:
Applicants should submit, in a single PDF:
(1) a cover letter describing their interest and relevant leadership experience,
(2) a curriculum vitae or résumé, and
(3) a two- to three-page statement describing their approach to integrating enrollment strategy, student success, cross-institutional collaboration, data-informed decision-making, and leadership accountability. References will be requested later in the search process.
Erikson is open to individual candidates from all backgrounds and experiences. Candidates should apply whether or not they feel that they meet all the requirements or qualifications for the position. We are looking forward to having exciting conversations with engaging candidates and will welcome your application.
About Erikson Institute
We are the premier early childhood development organization committed to ensuring that all children have equitable opportunities to realize their potential.
Erikson Institute’s graduate school uniquely prepares child development, education, and social work leaders to improve the lives of young children and their families. Our impact and influence are further amplified through our innovative academic programs, applied research, direct services in the community, advocacy, policy and leadership.
Erikson Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, veteran status, family responsibilities, or any other classes protected by federal, state, or local laws. In addition, Erikson Institute provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and applicable state and local laws (including during the application or hiring process).
To learn more, please visit our web site at www.erikson.edu