Eastern is looking to stay competitive in the new student market place, and is looking for a new associate vice president of enrollment management.

This position has the role of organizing, planning and coordinating an enrollment plan for the school to recruit new students.

The associate vice president will be responsible for working with the registrar, admissions and financial aid offices to perform his or her tasks.

A candidate for vice president of enrollment management must have a master’s degree, have experience with enrollment management and be able to see trends and expose them to benefit the university.

Provost Blair Lord called the associate vice president of enrollment management “a high level strategist.”

He said this position helps with the modern competitive nature of new student recruitment and is a practice that private universities use.

Lord said he would get reports from the new vice president, which would give updates on statistics, analytics and financial aid, as well as updates on how the vice president’s job is proceeding. He said he is very optimistic and hopeful they will find a good match for both the administration and Eastern in general.

“(We are) checking out the candidates to see if they are a good fit for Eastern,” Lord said.

The four candidates are Melvin Allen, Juanita Morris, Shaun Manning and Josh Norman.

The candidates each turned in their resumes and are looking at a similar day-long interview process. They will each be talking to Eastern President David Glassman, Lord, the search committee and deans, as well as going on a campus tour.

Allen has his interview on Tuesday.

He is from Chicago and received his education from Robert Morris College and DeVry University and is currently getting a doctorate in education from Argosy University.

He has worked at colleges such as Robert Morris College in Chicago, College of Lake County in Grayslake, Rock Valley College in Rockford and the college prep school Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest.

Morris also got her education from a variety of universities including Illinois State University and Benedictine University.

Morris has worked in both high schools and universities, including the University of Illinois, Danville High School and Southern Illinois University.

Manning is from Cotton Grove, and received his education from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls and Keller Graduate School in Minneapolis.

He has worked at Minnesota State University, University of Wisconsin at Waukesha, and Capella University in Minneapolis.

Norman is currently working at Eastern, as the assistant for the assistant vice president of enrollment management, and has worked at Eastern for eight years.

He got his degrees from Eastern and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Samuel Nusbaum can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].