Dear colleagues:

The university's Strategic Enrollment Management strategy has had a positive impact on fall semester and is showing great promise for the future. The SEM strategy leverages good things we're doing, such as providing applied learning experiences for every student, creating innovative solutions to real world problems and generating educational opportunities in the community from high school through retirement.  

Fall semester numbers won't be final until reported by the Kansas Board of Regents in the next month, but there are positive growth trends evident over the past three years in freshman enrollment, underrepresented student enrollment, residence hall occupancy and new students coming to WSU from Texas, Oklahoma and the Kansas City, Missouri area.

The hundreds of faculty and staff who have contributed to the plan and its execution are the beating heart of Wichita State. Your actions in providing quality, relevant education and making students feel welcome and valued is the basis of our success.

The importance of WSU enrollment growth goes far beyond filling classroom seats and generating revenue to support positions and programs.

Kansas has thousands of job openings and most require some form of post-secondary education. Educating Kansans will always be our first priority, but we are also working hard to attract talented students from elsewhere who will remain here to fill jobs and create new businesses for the betterment of our community.

One clear success is through what we call the I-35 corridor strategy, which offers in-state tuition to prospective students in nearby states to attract them to WSU and Kansas.  Experience shows that many of them will stay to take jobs and start families here.

Geographic areas included in the I-35 strategy have gone from producing 262 students in Fall 2014 to more than 700 this year, contributing to full residence halls and, unofficially, until the Regents report, the third year in a row of record freshmen enrollment.

The Strategic Enrollment Management plan is a work in progress that is continuing this year under the leadership of Associate Vice President Carolyn Shaw. We'll begin examining and updating goals soon, so please contact Dr. Shaw if you'd like to be involved.

For more information, visit the SEM website.

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The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.