A new survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling finds that Blacks make up a representative percentage of admissions office personnel at colleges and universities across the United States but are a much smaller percentage of admission directors and executives.
The data from the survey shows that African Americans are about 11 percent of all admissions counselors, assistant admissions directors, and associate admissions directors. But Blacks are only 5 percent of admissions directors and individuals who hold titles such as vice president of admission, dean of admission, or vice president of enrollment management.
The survey also shows that maintaining diversity in the admissions offices of colleges and universities will be a challenges in the years ahead. The survey found that Black admissions officials are more than twice as likely as their White peers to looking for a new job at the current time. Nearly a quarter of all Black admissions officials want to seek a new job outside the admissions field.
Too often it seems your articles and statistics discuss what has happened in the past few years. 1966 was the year when I became the second Black college admissions officer at a four-year college/university in the State of Illinois. When I began visiting predominately Black high schools in Chicago, I discovered they had never been visited before. The year, 1966.
During the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s I remained in college admissions. We could become an Associate Director of Admissions but the ceiling stopped there. Seldom if ever did anyone ever get appointed beyond an “Associate Director”. Most of us in admissions moved on into another field. The beat continues. Perhaps in another 20 or 30 years a few more will be promoted to top admission positions.
Remember: The perception is, after the President, the individual in charge of the Admissions Office is the official “GATE KEEPER” to the university. HE and a few times she, maintain the myth of standards and we seldom are perceived in that role.