Employing Noncognitive Variables to Improve Admissions, and Increase Student Diversity and Retention

David H. Kalsbeek, Ph.D., is the senior vice president for Enrollment Management and Marketing at DePaul University. David leads the enrollment management and marketing development strategies for the largest Catholic university and the nation’s 13th largest private not-for-profit university, enrolling over 23,000 students in ten colleges and multiple campuses in the greater Chicago region. His responsibilities encompass undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid, student records, career services and employer relations, university marketing, TRIO programs, and institutional research. For more than 25 years, his approaches have been showcased as best practices in the field. He has given more than 120 professional presentations, authored more than 20 publications and chapters in seven books on university administration, and consulted with more than 40 institutions and associations. He has been an adjunct faculty member in the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Doctoral Program in Higher Education Administration and currently is on the faculty in University of Southern California’s certificate program in enrollment management leadership. David holds a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from Saint Louis University.

Michele Sandlin is a Managing Consultant for AACRAO Consulting. She previously served as the Director of Admissions and the Campus Visitors Center at Oregon State University for 15 years, during which university enrollment grew by over 67 percent, while achieving additional goals for diversity and academic preparedness of incoming students. She previously served at Pacific University, Portland State University, University of Oregon, and Western State College in Colorado, holding leadership roles in admissions, orientation, records and registration, articulation and financial aid. During her 32 year career in enrollment services, Ms. Sandlin has developed industry-leading expertise in admissions operations, staff management, campus partnerships, transfer articulation agreements/practice/policy, accreditation compliance, graduate and international admissions, holistic admissions, and team building. She has served in state, regional, and national leadership positions with AACRAO and with the International Baccalaureate Program, having served as the IB Chair for the Americas College and University Recognition Board. As the foremost practitioner of holistic admissions, Ms. Sandlin has worked with institutions on a global scale in the last ten years implementing noncognitive variables. Ms. Sandlin completed her Master of Science degree in 1996 in Higher Education Policy Foundations and Administration at Portland State University.

William Sedlacek is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Maryland. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University. He is senior author of Racism in American education: A model for change (with Brooks), and a measure of racial attitudes, The Situational Attitude Scale (SAS). He authored Beyond the big test: Noncognitive assessment in higher education and has published more than 350 articles in professional journals on a wide range of topics including racism, sexism, college admissions, advising, and employee selection. He has served as editor of Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. Also, he has consulted with more than 300 different organizations, colleges, and universities on interracial and intercultural issues, and has served as an expert witness in race and sex discrimination cases. In 1992, he received the Ralph F. Berdie Memorial Research Award “for research affecting directional changes in the field of counseling and college student personnel work” which was presented by the American Counseling Association (ACA). In 1993, he received the John B. Muir Editor’s Award from the National Association for College Admission Counseling for his article entitled “Employing noncognitive variables in the admission and retention of nontraditional students.” In 1997, he received the research award from ACA for his article entitled “An empirical method of determining nontraditional group status” published in Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. In 1998, he was named a Senior Scholar by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and became a Diplomate in 2003. In 2002, he was recognized by ACPA as a Diamond Honoree, for his service and research in student affairs and in 2004 he received the Contribution to Knowledge Award from ACPA for “outstanding contributions to the profession’s body of knowledge through publications, films, speeches, instructions, tapes, and other forms of communication.” In 2005 he received the Campus Model of Excellence Award for “affecting the lives of African Americans,” from the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education at the University of Maryland. In 2010 he was made a Fellow of the American Counseling Association for “significant and unique contributions to scientific achievement in the counseling profession.” In 2011 he received the William R. “Bud” Thomas Jr. Mentoring Award for “excellence in sustained mentoring of graduate college student personnel students” from the University of Maryland.