Announcement from Stetson University, May 17, 2011: Joel Bauman named Stetson University VP for Enrollment Management
Joel Bauman, a seasoned admission and financial aid leader with experience at universities in New York, Utah, Florida and internationally, has been selected as Stetson University’s new vice president for Enrollment Management. He will join Stetson August 2011, succeeding Deborah J. Thompson, who has accepted a position in South Carolina.
Bauman brings more than 20 years of experience in higher education to his job at Stetson. Since 2004, he has been vice president for Enrollment at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before that, he served at New College of Florida in Sarasota, the University of Tampa and in the New York office of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
“As part of our strategic planning, we want to increase undergraduate enrollment at Stetson. In addition to serving the Florida market, we want to attract academically talented, undergraduate students from around the country and indeed the world. It was important that we select someone with a solid record in reinforcing these goals,” said Stetson President Wendy B. Libby. “Joel Bauman led five consecutive years of record new student enrollments at Westminster, and he has had great success in diversifying the student body and attracting students with top academic credentials.”
Bauman will oversee Stetson’s undergraduate and graduate admission and financial aid functions. The university has established a goal to increase undergraduate enrollment to 3,000 undergraduates by fall 2016. Undergraduate enrollment is currently at about 2,200, and Stetson’s incoming class for fall 2011 already looks strong – in terms of numbers and academic quality.
“Being entrusted with the opportunity to contribute to Stetson University, an institution with a tradition of academic excellence and great potential for innovation in American higher education, is a great honor,” said Bauman. “I look forward to partnering with the distinguished faculty, engaged students and top-notch administrative team in finding talented students who will succeed at Stetson.”
Founded in 1875, Westminster is a selective, independent college dedicated to student learning and the purposeful integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic engagement. It is similar in enrollment to Stetson and also is a member of the New American Colleges, a consortium of colleges and universities nationwide often cited as models of the intentional integration of teaching and learning, scholarship and service.
At Westminster, Bauman oversaw an enrollment increase of 31 percent during his tenure as vice president, and applications increased three-fold. Bauman also oversaw dramatic increases in enrollment of minority students, international students and out-of-state students. The college added new academic programs, facilities and athletic teams to support that growth.
The 2011 chair of the Enrollment Management Affinity group for the New American Colleges and Universities Consortium, Bauman is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and other higher education professional organizations. He is a volunteer board member for the United Jewish Federation of Utah.
He earned his undergraduate degree in anthropology and biology from the University of Denver and a master’s degree and work toward a Ph.D. at New School University in New York. He received fellowships to the National Foundation for Jewish Culture in Israel and The Lady Davis Fellowship Trust at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has authored papers for several conferences.
Early in his career, Bauman worked as an archeological technician for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arizona, a museum technician at the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island National Monument in New York and as a seasonal archeologist at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona. He served two years in the 1990s as assistant director on the International Youth and Education Department at the Jewish National Fund in Jerusalem.
Bauman is a devoted father to three daughters, ages 14, 11 and 6.