“It’s about relationship building,” said Marc Harding.

Harding, assistant vice president of admissions, recognized the key elements that aid Iowa State when recruiting students.

With almost 26 years in the business, Harding has seen multiple models used for recruiting and explained how it works at Iowa State.

“Everyone has a shared responsibility in recruiting all students,” said Harding about the admissions office.

Harding talked about some of the different approaches universities might have, such as having a single multicultural coordinator.

“That model has really dissolved overtime,” said Harding.

Harding said how having one person responsible for multicultural recruitment can send the wrong message as he feels they should be respected as a student first.

However, Iowa State goes without staff familiar with multicultural programming.

“We have staff that understands different components of the university and may have greater expertise in the multicultural area,” said Harding regarding resources and scholarships that are available to the multicultural student population.

At Iowa State, territory management is the model used for recruitment, meaning that someone in admissions is assigned a portion of the state and they are in charge of recruitment in the region, regardless of the population demographic.

Harding said the relationships that are made with individuals is just as important, if not more, than the model used for recruiting students.

To build relationships, Iowa State sends out newsletters to multicultural students and holds different events during visit days and orientations.

Iowa State uses an integrated approach; that way people understand the resources available to students and get the opportunity to be introduced to everyone that would be involved in their program of study.

Iowa State has also partnered with the I’ll Make Me a World program to support diversity.

“Definitely an opportunity that you want to take advantage of,” Harding said.

I’ll Make Me a World was founded in 1998 to promote programs of African-American culture and arts. Each year they have an education that brings in 750 students of color where Iowa State gets to speak with students about the importance of education as well as the opportunities at Iowa State.

“You’ve got to find ways to connect with the community,” said Harding.

As technology changes, so does recruitment.

“It’s about multichannel communication,” said Harding.

This refers to all of the different ways that people communicate, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, cell phones and/or email.

Universities, including Iowa State, have been utilizing these various types of media to help recruit incoming students.