In the late 1980's, enrollment management nationally became a recognized and critical field within colleges and universities and also within the State of Georgia. As a result, many GACRAO members' job responsibilities expanded to include crossover functions including Admissions, Recruitment, Records/Registrar, Financial Aid, and other areas of student services.
These members became the first Enrollment Manager pioneers in Georgia. GACRAO continued to serve as the professional organization for Admissions and Records Officers in Georgia. However, the association did not adequately shift programming at the annual conference to serve the needs of the new breed of Enrollment Managers.
Additionally, as a result of unexpected consequences that surfaced in the mid 1990's regarding state wide changes in Georgia's higher education administration, GACRAO was gradually impacted with a downward shift in attendance at the annual conference. Public and private colleges were equally touched by these events.
The primary influences that caused a downward spiral included, but not limited to:
-
Academic calendar change from quarter to semester system.
-
A move by all public colleges to adopt a complex SIS system. (Banner)
-
Competition to attend alternative technology user groups rather than GACRAO.
-
Reduced travel budgets for professional meetings.
-
Loss of experienced membership attendance due to promotions/responsibilities.
These challenges left GACRAO with repeated years of its membership being redirected to other agenda and without the necessary infrastructure to fully serve its mission.
As a result, GACRAO has introduced this Institute project to recover its purpose and re-attract our most capable membership.
|
