Iowa State registrar Laura Doering was announced as the associate vice president for enrollment management and student success Thursday.

Her new position will begin on March 20.

Doering has been Iowa State’s registrar since 2012 and has worked in the registrar’s office since 1996. She served as assistant registrar until 1999 and then as associate registrar until 2005.

Doering has also worked as director of student activities and assistant registrar at Des Moines Area Community College and holds a master’s in education from Iowa State University and a bachelor’s in communication from Western Michigan University.

Doering succeeds vice president of student affairs Martino Harmon, who began his position in March 2016.

“Iowa State is a very special place,” Doering said. “It’s really a privilege to be able to serve in this role here because we have such a committed group of individuals [who] want to see students flourish and [who] want to see students not just enroll, but graduate and realize their educational dreams.”

Doering says that while her new position comes with many challenges, she sees those as opportunities. She cited ending the achievement gap as one of the office’s main goals for the future.

“When you’re looking at zeroing in on why certain student populations are not persisting to graduation at the same rate, with that comes some pretty targeted intervention and being able to determine what’s going to be effective, using assessment to do that and being able to garner that resource to really be able to meet the goals,” Doering said. 

Doering also hopes to work with the campus community “to come to a common understanding about enrollment management” at a university that has seen eight consecutive years of record enrollment. 

Harmon said that Doering’s position will be a bit different than the position he held prior to his appointment as vice president of student affairs, with a focus on developing a “true enrollment management model” for the university.

“What I’m looking for from [Doering] is a more focused approach on enrollment management and student success,” Harmon said. “Of course, as a leader in the division she will help out and provide leadership across the division, but I really want us to have more of an emphasis on enrollment management as many other institutions in the country already have.”

Harmon said that Doering’s experience in admissions and enrollment, as well as her leadership across campus and across the state made her the right choice for the position. 

Harmon said the student affairs office hopes to use Doering’s new role to bring enrollment management at Iowa State to a higher level. As a department, they want to determine an appropriate size enrollment size each year, what new student increase should be and what is appropriate on a college by college basis.

Harmon also said that with the hiring of Doering as vice president for enrollment management and student success, as well as the expansion of department of residence director Pete Englin’s position, the department for student affairs is beginning to create the executive management it needs.

“In the new structure within student affairs, I will have four associated vice presidents […] and so with the recent appointment of the new associate vice president dean of students and now Laura Doering and Pete Englin, I’m really rounding out the executive leadership team in student affairs,” Harmon said.

Harmon also noted that his department is working on developing a position for an assistant vice president for health services.