The last forty years have brought new attention and dizzying changes to where students apply to college and how colleges admit students. While many of these changes are due to technology, others can be identified with an innovator, one person who looked at this interesting world and said, well, OK, but what about?
Four of those thought leaders have moved on to new chapters this year after a lifetime of service to college admissions. The vast majority of their work went unnoticed, but its effect did not—so it seems only fitting to give them a well-deserved curtain call.
Jon Boeckenstedt served as an enrollment manager and vice president at several colleges. Along the way, Jon’s ability to look at college admissions through a “what if” lens had several iterations, with the largest of those involving data—who applied, who got in, what are colleges looking for, what’s really going on with college tuition, and more.
In a field where everyone is swamped with too much to do and too little time to do it, Jon kept his institutions running like a top and earning the highest respect of his peers. He also found the time to tinker with data analytics in leading edge-ways, and shared his results with others—often having to show the rest of us how to read his results. Here’s hoping one data disciple of Jon’s will pick up his hefty mantle, maintaining Jon’s grounded approach to the field.
David Hawkins has been a key shaper and negotiator of public policy and more in college admissions through his 25 years of work with the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. NACAC isn’t a household name, but its efforts to expand college opportunity and federal funding for college are legendary in Washington, largely thanks to David. Respect for his work is due in part to his ability to hold AI-like volumes of knowledge at his fingertips. The other part comes from his understated approach to his work, and his willingness to bring hundreds of policy newbies into the process, always having time for even the most basic of questions.
David retires from NACAC this December. Here’s hoping he either goes into consulting, writes a book, or both.
Bob Morse is credited with the rise in popularity of the US News college rankings, and was known for not shying away from his detractors, staying true to his vision of what a college is all about. Bob’s work made people pay attention to college admissions who might not have given it a second thought, giving admissions offices and high school counselors alike ample opportunities to reconsider or recommit themselves to their own vision of college opportunity. His work led other organizations to develop rankings, each with its own criteria.
Fred Rugg authored one of the original, and most beloved, college guides. Unlike other guides, this one didn’t rank colleges, focusing instead on colleges that were known to have strong programs in specific majors. This approach left students and counselors/advisors free to consider other components of college exploration—but given how many students start a search by major, Fred’s work gave most students a huge head start.
Fred added other publications to his beloved Rugg’s Recommendations on the Colleges, offering his insights on how to approach the college selection process. This made Fred America’s college counselor in a time when national vision was in short supply. His approach was rich with vision and humanity, essential qualities now up to us to maintain in this data-rich environment.
