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Article Type

Professional Proficiency

Article Abstract

Related Issue:

It is predicted that hundreds of chief enrollment management officer (CEMO) positions may become available due to high turnover within the next few years, creating an opportunity for a new generation of leaders. In this causal comparative quantitative study, data was collected from 211 current CEMOs to understand the challenges and highlights of the role and provide recommendations for reshaping the role. Tenets from transformative leadership theory, feminist theories, and labor economics combined to form the theoretical underpinnings for this study. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between demographic and work-life factors on job satisfaction, morale, and intention to stay. The findings suggest that career support, recognition for competence, and favorable working conditions were significantly correlated with higher morale and intention to stay in their current position. Findings from this research can help institutions make the CEMO role more attractive to the next generation of diverse transformative leaders who will be responsible for solving complex problems in the changing, highly competitive landscape of higher education.

Author(s)

headshot of Lisa EmeryLisa Emery, Ph.D., serves as the Senior Associate Registrar at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
She is the chair of the Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (MACRAO) Enrollment
Management committee and a member of AACRAO’s Information Systems and Technology Committee. Emery holds a doctorate
in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University, where her dissertation examined factors impacting job
satisfaction and retention of chief enrollment management officers.

Rema Reynolds Vassar, Ph.D., is a Professor in the College of Education at Wayne State University. Dr. Vassar earned
her doctorate from UCLA in Urban Schooling and is the author of many scholarly journal articles. Her research
interests include parent-school partnerships; race, gender, and class implications in schools; implications of
policy and practice on student achievement and outcomes; and equity, justice, access, and inclusion for minoritized
communities. She was recently elected to the Board of Trustees for Michigan State University and appointed to the
state of Michigan’s MiSTEM Advisory Council to promote STEM engagement across the state.

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