Cornell U. begins another national search for admissions dean
The Cornell Daily Sun
February 24, 2011
After failing to find a suitable candidate, the University is about to relaunch the search for its first associate vice provost and dean for admissions and Financial Aid.
Administrators are optimistic this year’s search will be successful since the University is now employing the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer, according to Barbara Knuth, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. Last semester, the search was done entirely by a University search committee.
The search will appoint the successor for Doris Davis, former associate provost for admissions and enrollment, who left her post last spring to start a college consulting business.
During Davis’s tenure, Cornell’s acceptance rate fell significantly every year and the freshmen classes became increasingly diverse. In 1999 — the year before Davis arrived — the admissions rate for first-year students was 32.9 percent. Last year, for the Class of 2014, the acceptance rate dropped to an all-time low of 18.4 percent.
Knuth said the search will continue “until we identify an excellent candidate who will be able to provide the leadership we seek on enrollment processes and goals.”
