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Admissions

Category: Admissions

LUX returns for April dates

Two more LUX events will take place April 2-3 and April 16-17. LUX is our day for incoming admitted students, applicants, and their families/guests.

The official LUX program begins Sunday at 5 p.m. and will end Monday at 4:30 p.m. During this time, students will hear from campus leadership, faculty, staff, and current students at presentations, classes, and touring campus, getting a taste for life as a Lawrentian.

We encourage folks to shine their light as we welcome our prospective students to campus. If you see a lost-looking student or group of people, please point them in the right direction. Please also avoid parking in Chapman lot Monday morning.

Thank you to all our campus partners who have volunteered their time, talents, classrooms, and spaces to welcome over 130 guests! Recruitment is a campus-wide effort, and we appreciate all that you do.

Jaime González
Associate Director of Admissions – Southeast Regional
Transfer Admissions Coordinator
jaime.gonzalez@lawrence.edu

Navigate system trainings set for faculty

Message from Dr. Ashley Lewis, Associate Vice President for Enrollment:

We would like to invite you to attend one of the three remaining Navigate system trainings for Faculty. (Two have already taken place.) With Navigate now being our premier Student Success Management System (replacing Sunstone), we want to make sure that all Faculty are familiar with its functions, features, and how it will support student success at Lawrence. During each training, faculty can expect to hear about Navigate and:

  • The alert referral process and submitting alerts for at-risk students and
  • Completing 3-week check reports, progress reports and ad-hoc reports
  • Accessing assigned advisees and students who are enrolled in your courses
  • Using email campaigns to nudge groups of students to complete an action
  • Forthcoming Navigate features like calendar syncing and the risk prediction model (Predictive Model) and much more!

Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns about Navigate or the trainings to Lewisash@lawrence.edu.  

We look forward to seeing you there!

Date: Monday 1/16/2023

Time: 11:00pm- 12:00pm

Zoom link here

Meeting ID: 952 5021 3795
Passcode: 021943

Date: Tuesday 1/17/2023

Time: 3:00pm- 4:00pm

Zoom link here

Meeting ID: 939 6105 1014

Passcode: 455990

Date: Tuesday 1/24/2023

Time: 1:00pm- 2:00pm

Zoom link here

Meeting ID: 928 1234 8280
Passcode: 056486

Virtual Tour photographer on campus Sept. 27-29

The Admissions and Communications offices are working with EAB and You Visit to create a new virtual tour on campus to launch later this term. A photographer will be on campus Sept. 27-29 taking photos of several campus locations.  Jen England, director of visit experience/senior associate director of admissions, is the project manager and will reach out to folks directly responsible for areas where photos will be taken. If you have questions, please contact Jen directly at Jennifer.england@lawrence.edu.

Many hands make light work…

The Reach Out Initiative has launched. It’s a campaign to reach every Lawrentian, whether they are on or off campus, with a live phone call from a member of the Lawrence faculty or staff.

The goal?

  • Let them know we’re thinking about them.
  • Listen to how they’re doing with curiosity and empathy
  • Connect them with campus resources that can help if they need support.

To call 1400 Lawrentians is a tall task, but—as the saying goes—many hands make light work. If we can assemble a volunteer crew of at least 140, we can do this well and in very short order.

We’re more than halfway there.

You can join the effort, too, by completing this short form. When you do, you’ll be sent instructions for how to log in to a portal where you can select the students you’d like to call. (It also includes a handy call script so you can manage the interaction with confidence.)

Together we can stay connected, even as we remain apart.

Phone image from Creative Commons By Gan Khoon Lay 

Connecting future Lawrentians with their future teachers and mentors

Thank you to those of you who have already reached out to ask about admissions events and how you can continue to help in recruitment activities this spring. We especially appreciate your support as you close out winter term and prepare for distance learning this spring. We are so grateful for all you do.

Just as you are facing challenges, this time is very difficult for high school seniors, our prospective students, to make their college decisions without visiting campus in person. This is in addition to the other disappointments they are facing: cancelled proms, performances, spring sports, and graduation ceremonies, all while missing their friends and teachers they had hoped to end their 12-year educational journey with. Connecting students with you, their future teachers and mentors, is more important than ever.

We are happy to announce some of our new initiatives: a new virtual campus visit experience (complete with tours, presentations, and meetings), virtual LUX (shorter than the original but a live, online event), and phone casts (like a call-in show, but we call the audience). We hosted a phone cast last week, where current Lawrence parents fielded questions from parents of admitted students. It was a roaring success with high engagement from parents of our future students.

We would like to continue to include our faculty colleagues in these activities. Here is an update on how we will continue to engage with you in recruitment activities:

  1. Prospective student meetings with faculty: We would like to continue to offer these like we have every year but this time, online. In our virtual campus visit experience, students can request a meeting with a faculty member. We are asking students to give us at least 72 hours-notice so that Chyna Perdomo, our campus visit coordinator, can check with you and your availability. Once we have a date and time that works, Chyna will set up a Zoom meeting for both you and the student to use to connect.
  2. Lessons with conservatory faculty: This would be offered in a fashion similar to the faculty meeting outlined above. We will continue to gather all of the information that we have previously about a student’s musical background and preparation.
  3. Virtual LUX April 20: The LUX program on April 6 has been cancelled, but we are working on building out a live virtual event that will include academic presentations and chats with faculty. We will be in touch at a later date with specific requests.
  4. Virtual Preview Day on May 1: Similar to LUX, we are moving our campus event for high school juniors and sophomores to a live, online event. We are still working on the details, but we will be in touch again in the future.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with me or a member of our campus visit experience team: Chyna Perdomo (campus visit coordinator), Rachel Bassi (admissions event coordinator), or Jennifer England (supervisor for the campus visit experience team).

With sincere gratitude,
Be well and do well,

Mary Beth Petrie
Dean of Admissions

The finest suite of virtual experiences anywhere…

(Recognizing that I have even less neutrality than an average NBA slam-dunk competition judge, I am stand by the title of this post.)

I want to recognize the outstanding work that the admissions and communications teams pulled off last week to assemble a brand new virtual suite that allows students who can no longer visit Lawrence University to experience some of the best of what we offer.

They did so quickly, collaboratively, and beautifully against the backdrop of rapidly changing work circumstances.

(Visit other colleges’ virtual visit sites, and you’ll see why the title of this post works.)

LUX – Lawrence University Experience

Our first LUX program for applicants and admitted students will be on February 9-10, and we are expecting around 100 students and their families coming to campus. We hope you will assist us in making our campus visitors feel welcome! You can do this in a few ways:

  • Park your car in the Plantz parking lot to allow closer lots and street parking to be available for visitors. The Chapman Hall lot will be specifically reserved for them.
  • Be mindful of guests that may need directions as they navigate campus and offer to help if you can.

Thank you for helping us recruit your future classmates!

-Lawrence Admissions

Mary Beth Petrie Promoted to Dean of Admissions

It is my great pleasure to inform you that I have relocated the title of Dean of Admissions, which had previously been appended to the end of my title, to a more appropriate person: Mary Beth Petrie.

This title change not only recognizes Beth’s leadership and expertise, but also how her responsibility has expanded in recent years as she guides and develops the Lawrence University admissions team and its efforts.

This is a decision I have made in consultation with President Mark Burstein, who enthusiastically endorses the title shift.

Beth’s previous title of Director of Admissions will be subsumed by her new title. This move does not affect the roles or responsibilities of anyone else on the admissions team.

Observers of history and precedent will note that Mary Beth Petrie will be the first woman ever to hold the title, Lawrence University Dean of Admissions. (Many thanks to Lina Rosenberg Foley, our university archivist, for confirming that.)

Please join me in congratulating Dean Petrie!

Ken Anselment
Vice President for Enrollment & Communication

PS: While my title is shortening, my role—oversight for enrollment (i.e., admissions, financial aid, and retention initiatives) and communication—is not.

Laura Zuege goes abroad to the financial aid office

On September 30, you will see a familiar face in a new location.

After 15 years of progressive experience and leadership in Lawrence’s off-campus programs, Laura Zuege, our director of off-campus programs, will join the financial aid team as a new assistant director of financial aid.

The transition to 100% financial aid focus for Laura will be gradual, as she will continue to provide leadership to our off-campus programs while the university conducts a search for a new director of off-campus programs.

In October and November, Laura will split her time 50/50 between her office in Brokaw Central and her office in International House. In December, Laura will establish herself fully in the financial aid office.

Laura is the latest addition to a new financial aid team led by Ryan Gebler, Director of Financial Aid, that includes Natasa Rausch, who joined us in July after three years in financial aid at St. Norbert College, and Dan Erickson, now in his second year as a financial aid counselor.

Avoid Chapman Lot 8/2

Due to a high volume of visitors for our Summer Visit Day on August 2, we are asking staff to avoid parking in the Chapman Lot these days in order to provide the best possible experience for our guests.

The saw horses will be blocking the entrances and admissions staff members will be present to direct traffic. Thank you for your cooperation!