Reflections on Achievement, Hitting the Glass Ceiling and Breaking the Mold

Susan Gottheil is Vice-Provost (Students) at the University of Manitoba, where she is involved in strategic enrollment management planning and working with colleagues across campus to enhance the student experience. She has more than three decades of leadership experience in the Canadian postsecondary sector, helping institutions to promote and expand academic programs, increase student recruitment and retention, enhance learning and development, improve student and academic support services, and promote collaborative partnerships.

With an undergraduate degree from McGill University and an M.A. in Women’s History, Gottheil began her career at Vanier College Cegep in Montreal, where she spent nine years teaching before moving into senior administrative positions at Carleton University. In 2006, she moved to western Canada to help Mount Royal transition from a college to a university and roll out new undergraduate degree programs. Her background and experience cover a number of key areas including enrollment management, strategic planning, student and academic services, integrated marketing and communications, and employment and educational equity.

Gottheil is motivated by new challenges. She has inspired, managed, and led cross-functional staff and faculty teams to dramatically increase student enrollment and retention, improve student service delivery and student support programs, and enhance student success. Over the past few years, she has collaborated with Clayton Smith on the emergence and implementation of enrollment management in Canada. Together they have presented workshops at a number of professional conferences in the United States and across Canada, published articles, co-edited a book on SEM in Canada and organized the annual Canadian Strategic Enrollment Management Summits. Gottheil has helped a number of Canadian institutions develop strategic enrollment plans in her role as a senior consultant with AACRAO Consulting.