By Julia Grimaldi

The vice president of enrollment management is a new staff position which Kutztown University added last October. This position involved overseeing admissions, enrollment, financial aid, the registrar’s office, institutional research and college readiness, including the CONNECTIONS program. More universities have been adding this position in recent years, but after only a year of its creation, the university is about to lose it.

The current vice president of Enrollment Management, Kim Scranage, will be leaving KU on Oct. 1, 2014 to the vice president of Enrollment and Degree Management at the University of Northern Kentucky. With so many duties left to the vice president, students may wonder how this lack of position will impact their academic success. “None of the jobs have been eliminated,” said Matt Santos, director of university relations. “They just have been dispersed through other areas in the administration.”

Kutztown University is still led by Dr. Vargas, acting president, but the University is currently searching for a permanent president for next year. In terms of Dr. Vargas looking for a new vice president of enrollment management, he said, “As an acting president, you wouldn’t go out and replace a position at that level, because you want to leave that up to the person that is coming in.”

Though Kim Scranage is leaving Kutztown, her vision will stay with the University. “The new president will really need to look at [what she did for the University] and see where we go long-term with [the position], but enrollment and retention is super important to the health of the University long-term, and [the vice president of enrollment management position] plays a major part in that,” said Santos. “We definitely need to continue to keep up the momentum that Kim started in the past year, and wish her the best in her job in Northern Kentucky.”