New VP for Enrollment, Marketing & Communications Named
Stefanie Niles
by Christine Baksi
Stefanie Niles
Dickinson has appointed Stefanie D. Niles, currently vice president for enrollment and marketing at Hollins University, as its vice president for enrollment, marketing & communications. She will begin on July 6, 2015.
Niles will continue with Dickinson’s highly personalized approach to attracting the most talented and best-suited students from a national and global cross-section of the college-going public. She will lead a division composed of the offices of admissions, athletics, financial aid, institutional research and marketing & communications.
“Stefanie is an accomplished enrollment professional with a passion for the type of liberal-arts education Dickinson offers,” said President Nancy A. Roseman. “As a key member of the campus community and senior leadership team, she will work collaboratively to further Dickinson’s strong position as a highly selective liberal-arts college.”
Niles has nearly 20 years of enrollment-management experience. At Hollins, a small, private women’s university with coed graduate programs in Roanoke, Va., she leads the offices of admission, financial aid, marketing and the Horizon program, a degree-completion program for nontraditional students. She has overseen a major research and rebranding process for the institution, including a complete overhaul of the institution’s electronic and print platforms. As a member of the strategic-planning committee, she coordinates institutional efforts that have resulted in significant increases in alumnae engagement in enrollment initiatives.
Prior to Hollins, Niles was the dean of enrollment management at Bryn Athyn College and served in a number of admissions roles at DePauw University over a 12-year period, most recently as vice president for admission and financial aid. While at DePauw, Niles facilitated enrollment efforts for both the college of liberal arts and school of music. Her achievements included increasing the percentage of students of color enrolled at DePauw and creating a comprehensive international recruitment effort, resulting in growth of the international-student population from two to 12 percent in three years.
Niles is involved in a number of professional organizations, including the American Academic Leadership Institute’s Executive Leadership Academy, co-sponsored by the Council for Independent Colleges and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. She currently serves on the current issues and future trends committee of the Potomac and Chesapeake Association of College Admission Counseling (PCACAC) and joined the national committee (NACAC) in fall 2014.
She was an active member and leader of the Indiana Association for College Admission Counseling (IACAC), serving as the chair of the professional-development committee; as program chair and general chair for the association’s annual conference; and as the association’s president in 2008-09. Niles also has been a member of NACAC’s committee for best practices in college fairs and has presented at numerous regional and national conferences on best practices and trends in enrollment, financial aid and marketing.
Niles earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree in education from Indiana University-Bloomington and a doctorate in higher-education management from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Doctorate Program Alumni Board. Niles and husband, Christopher, have two children, son Parker, 13, and daughter Alexa, 11.
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Published November 5, 2014