Vice President for Enrollment Management

Buffalo State University; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Buffalo State University seeks a collaborative leader to serve as its Vice President for Enrollment Management. The VPEM will guide admissions, financial aid, and the registrar while reporting to the President and contributing to a Cabinet determined to advance enrollment and student success.

The role emphasizes data-driven strategy, cross-divisional partnerships, and a shared commitment to access and excellence.

Qualifications

• Strategy in a contracting market: develop and execute multi-year enrollment plans with measurable results.
• Growth beyond the first-year pipeline: transfer, adult learners, certificates, online and international programs.
• Aid and pricing sophistication: use aid strategies to meet enrollment and revenue goals within public constraints.
• Data and systems fluency: leverage data and information systems to inform decisions and outcomes.

Skills

Strategy in contracting market

Growth beyond first-year

Aid and pricing sophistication

Data and systems fluency

Job description

Buffalo State University

- an involved community of learners, scholars, leaders, and global citizens from all walks of life - is a vibrant, four-year, public comprehensive university and member of the State University of New York (SUNY) system of higher education. The University seeks a collaborative and accomplished leader to serve as its next Vice President for Enrollment Management (VPEM). The VPEM will join a new President with a strongly student-focused mission who is eager to work together with the University’s Cabinet and the broader campus to enhance the institution through enrollment, retention, and student success. As a vital member of the new leadership team, the VPEM will contribute to a Cabinet that advances the University’s mission and strengthens institutional culture. Buffalo State seeks a VPEM who is energized by challenges and problem-solving, and who genuinely enjoys building an exciting future.

The Institution:

Founded in 1871 as the Buffalo Normal School, Buffalo State University has grown into one of the most dynamic and unique institutions within the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Buffalo State has two academic schools and 30 academic departments, all connected by common intellectual foundations and offering a full range of educational programs in their areas of study. Eight academic centers and institutes offer intellectual enrichment and community engagement and provide opportunities for students and faculty to work together across disciplines.

Buffalo State enrolls nearly 6,000 students annually, serving a diverse and inclusive community. Half (50.5%) of the total student body identify as students of color and 42% of undergraduate students are first‑generation university students. The institution has been recognized nationally through awards such as the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, and the Inclusion Diversity Equity Awareness (IDEA) Award.

Buffalo State’s faculty and staff are distinguished by their academic excellence and community involvement, and many have received prestigious honors, including SUNY Distinguished Professor ranks and Fulbright grants. The University’s small class sizes foster close student‑faculty interaction and personalized learning experiences.

The campus features state‑of‑the‑art facilities, including a $100 million Science and Mathematics Complex and Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium, the Great Lakes Center (the only field station on the Great Lakes within SUNY), and the newly renovated E. H. Butler Library, which serves as the academic heart of the institution.

Buffalo State’s mission is to empower students to succeed and inspire a lifelong passion for learning, with a vision to be a nationally recognized leader in public higher education. The University embraces values such as access, student‑centered learning, intellectual discovery, community engagement, and respect for diversity. With more than 100,000 alumni worldwide, including 57,000 in Western New York, Buffalo State continues to build on its legacy of excellence, preparing students to become leaders and change‑makers in an increasingly global society.

The Position:

The Vice President for Enrollment Management reports to the President, serves on the Cabinet, and leads the enrollment strategy for the University. The VPEM oversees three units: Admissions (first‑year, transfer, graduate, international); Financial Aid and Scholarship Services; and the Registrar, with four direct reports and 44 staff.

Enrollment at Buffalo State is a shared enterprise, and the VPEM is expected to provide leadership well beyond the boundaries of the division. While academic advising, student success and retention, athletics, marketing and communications, and institutional research currently report to other divisions, the ability to build effective working partnerships across divisions is as central to this role as it is to the leadership of the three reporting units.

The VPEM is the University’s principal voice on enrollment - with the campus, the public, and SUNY System Administration - and works with staff, deans, faculty, and Cabinet colleagues to build and execute a comprehensive enrollment management plan. Recruitment and retention are a single strategy at Buffalo State, and the VPEM is expected to be an active partner in the University’s student success programs, including SUNY Academic Momentum Campaign, Advancing Completion through Engagement (ACE), Roar 2 Success (Recognizing Opportunities and Achieving Results), Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), and Muriel A. Howard Honors Program.

Opportunities and Priorities:

• Few enrollment leaders get to help shape the team they join. Due to a retirement after decades of service in one division and extended interim leadership in two other divisions, Buffalo State is filling three vice president positions concurrently. The next VPEM will not be joining a firmly entrenched Cabinet so much as helping create one with significant new membership. The VPEM will join a new President, new Vice President for Student Affairs, and new Vice President for Finance and Management, alongside a seasoned Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and External Relations, Chief Diversity Officer, and Chief of Staff, whose institutional knowledge runs deep. The direction, working style, and culture of the Cabinet are still being set, and the VPEM will help establish those standards, working with a President committed to transparency and shared governance. Reversing recent enrollment results is the central assignment of this role, but not one the VPEM will carry alone. Because enrollment drives net tuition revenue and, with it, the University’s capacity to invest in its people and programs, it is a standing priority of the President, the Cabinet, and the academic deans. While the University’s new strategic plan will be in place when the VPEM arrives, the VPEM will lead the work of building a companion strategic enrollment plan alongside colleagues already invested in the outcome. The President is looking for a partner, not a functional manager; someone who will bring recommendations to the Cabinet, speak candidly about what the data shows, and contribute to decisions that reach beyond the enrollment portfolio. Buffalo State is building a renewed vision and brand for itself, and nowhere does that work meet reality faster than in how the University presents itself to prospective students and their families. The VPEM will help shape that story in close partnership with Cabinet, marketing, and others.

Qualifications:

Buffalo State is an urban‑engaged, access institution. First‑generation and Pell‑eligible students make up a large share of its enrollment, and its national recognition for social mobility follows directly from that mission. The University seeks to stabilize and grow enrollment across every population it serves, from first‑year and transfer to graduate and post‑traditional. The search committee will be considering and giving preference to the following qualifications and skills.

• Strategy in a contracting market: a track record of developing and executing a multi‑year, data‑informed strategic enrollment plan that produces measurable results at a comparable institution, together with the creativity to identify new markets and new program opportunities, in partnership with deans and faculty, as the regional demographic base contracts.
• Growth beyond the first‑year pipeline: demonstrated success with transfer and dual enrollment, adult and degree‑completion learners, certificates and microcredentials, graduate, online, and international students.
• Aid and pricing sophistication: evidence of using aid and scholarship strategy to meet enrollment and net tuition revenue goals, within public‑sector constraints and for a heavily Pell‑eligible population.
• Data and systems fluency: