FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 23, 2025
AACRAO Contact: Christopher W. Tremblay, Ed.D.
SEM-EP Director
sem-ep@aacrao.org
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Dr. Necia Martins, Associate Registrar of Student Finance & Client Services at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, has earned the Strategic Enrollment Management Endorsement from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers (AACRAO).
Dr. Martins also has the honor of being the 100th recipient of this Endorsement.
Dr. Martins is among an elite group of only 100 individuals internationally and is the 12th person from Canada (7th from Ontario) to earn this endorsement. Martins is receiving the SEM Endorsement Badge through Credly, and their name is now listed in the global registry.
This endorsement signifies that Dr. Martins has developed skills in the field of strategic enrollment management to meet the current and future challenges in the industry. Proficiencies in a variety of aspects of enrollment management have been achieved.
About the Graduate
Dr. Necia Martins holds a Bachelor of Science from Western University, a Master of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Western University. Her doctoral research explored student financial preparedness in post-secondary education. With over 16 years of experience in higher education, Martins has spent 13 years within Enrolment Services at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she currently serves as Associate Registrar, Student Finance & Client Services. In this role, she oversees Financial Aid, Student Awards, Student Accounts, Financial Literacy initiatives, and Service Laurier—the university’s one-stop service centre for Enrolment Services. Martins is actively engaged in sector-wide leadership. She serves as Specialist Director, Data and Information for the Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (CASFAA), where she leads national benchmarking projects and recently completed a national financial literacy scan. Additionally, she is a Member-at-Large on the Ontario Universities’ Registrar Association (OURA) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Standing Committee, supporting professional development opportunities for enrollment professionals across the province. Beyond her administrative work, Martins contributes to academia as a contract teaching faculty member, delivering leadership courses at the undergraduate level and within Wilfrid Laurier University’s Master of Education program.
Capstone: Navigating Strategic Enrollment Management in Canadian Higher Education: A Literature Review on Implementation Challenges, Collaborative Leadership, and Institutional Transformation
About the Endorsement
The AACRAO Strategic Enrollment Management Endorsement Program provides a well-defined, self-paced professional development program and career advancement track for in-service enrollment service professionals. The endorsement is a unique credential in the field and provides assurance of a strong foundation and understanding of enrollment management functions in a higher education setting. This endorsement is an international acknowledgement of enrollment management professionalism.
About the Program
Through a series of educational experiences with defined learning outcomes, SEM-EP is an accepted structure that underscores a set of uniform activities guided by association and industry best practices and resources. Admission to the program is competitive.
About AACRAO
Founded in 1910, AACRAO is a nonprofit, voluntary, professional association of 18,000 higher-education professionals who represent roughly 2,300 institutions in more than 40 countries. AACRAO represents institutions in every part of the higher education community, from large public institutions to small, private liberal arts colleges. Its mission is to provide professional development, guidelines, and voluntary standards to be used by higher-education officials regarding the best practices in records management, admissions, enrollment management, administrative information technology, and student services. Research, guidance, and best practices are shared with members and other higher-education stakeholders through training, publications, journals, and consulting services.
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