By Autumn Walden, Editor, AACRAO Connect, Content Strategy Manager, AACRAO
On October 17, 1989, Christopher Tremblay received a college admission letter from Western Michigan University. At the bottom was a signature from Stan Henderson, who personally signed every admission offer in ink that could be smudged to prove its authenticity.
Thirty-seven years later, the two names appear together again—this time as co-authors of an article celebrating 50 years of strategic enrollment management, “SEM at 50: People, Practice, and Progress of Strategic Enrollment Management,” published in the October 2026 special anniversary edition of Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly. The article explores the people, ideas, and practices that transformed enrollment management from an emerging administrative approach into an institution-wide discipline centered on learner success.
For Henderson and Tremblay, producing the historical account meant spending hours together reflecting on the profession’s development, revisiting its defining moments and considering what the next 50 years might bring.
What began as an admission decision became a professional relationship spanning decades, institutions, and career milestones. Today, it also illustrates something fundamental to the profession’s longevity: The knowledge and relationships that shape careers pass from one generation of leaders to the next through peer learning and mentoring, active collaboration, and adapting to change.
Henderson and Tremblay’s story is also an AACRAO story
Strategic enrollment management didn’t arrive fully formed. Practitioners built it, teaching each other in conference rooms, hallways, and journal pages, and making time for the people coming up behind them.
Henderson helped found the AACRAO Conference on SEM, now in its 36th year. Tremblay now directs the SEM Endorsement Program, helping credential enrollment leaders around the world, and serves as editor-in-chief of College and University. The mentee became a mentor of mentors.
The admissions letter in 1987 was only the beginning of Tremblay’s connection with Henderson.
In 1991, Tremblay was an orientation student leader at Western Michigan, where Henderson introduced him to professional development and the expectations of professionalism. Three years later, Henderson offered Tremblay his first position as an admissions counselor, launching a career in higher education.
Their professional paths converged again in 2005, when Henderson hired Tremblay as director of admissions and orientation at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. They worked together until 2013, building a relationship that extended beyond supervisor and employee to mentor and mentee—and eventually, friends and collaborators.
Henderson, an AACRAO past president and one of the leaders instrumental in establishing the SEM Conference, is helping commemorate a field he helped shape. Tremblay, meanwhile, has a personal milestone to celebrate. Their conference appearance marks his 100th career conference presentation.
And now living just five minutes apart in Canton, Michigan, the two still regularly get together for dinner.
Their relationship also offers a personal example of the value of professional community and peer mentoring
While Henderson initially guided Tremblay’s entry into the profession, their relationship has evolved into one of shared reflection, scholarship, and service.
That evolution reflects the spirit of the AACRAO member-led mission, in which experienced practitioners contribute their knowledge, develop new leaders and work collectively to advance the profession.
It also echoes the AACRAO peer mentoring philosophy: Regardless of career stage, every professional has knowledge and experiences worth sharing.
The longevity of their connection is especially meaningful as SEM celebrates its anniversary. Institutional practices, technology and enrollment challenges have changed considerably over five decades. But the relationships through which practitioners exchange ideas, develop professionally and build on one another’s work remain central to the field.
For Tremblay, discovering that his appearance alongside Henderson would mark his 100th conference presentation added another layer of significance.
“How cool that I get to celebrate that milestone with you!” he wrote to Henderson. “This made my day!”
From a handwritten signature on an admission letter to a shared byline chronicling 50 years of SEM, their story is a reminder that mentorship doesn’t always begin with a planned path. It can begin with a signature, a session or committee, a job inquiry or offer, or a question someone took the time to answer.
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