Venita King is assistant vice president of enrollment management and director of admissions at Alabama A&M. (Photo courtesy of Alabama A&M)
Venita King, assistant vice president of enrollment management and director of admissions at Alabama A&M University, says they have capitalized on this in their ramped-up recruitment efforts.
“We initiated the presidential bus tour and decided we were going to take the university and reintroduce it to the Alabama community. We began that in 2013, and we adopted the slogan, ‘Start here, go anywhere,’” says King. As part of the initiative, she says the university gave the students examples of alumni who had excelled in their fields.
King says they started telling the stories of alumni such as 1989 graduate Col. Martha Brooks, director of public affairs for the U.S. Army Expeditionary Contracting Command, and NFL Hall of Famer John Stallworth, a 1974 graduate who played 14 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and built a defense contracting company that he sold for a reported $74 million in 2006.
“We have success stories that we have not shared before in this way,” she says. “We have not taken advantage of our success stories. We need to be able to say, ‘Look who we’ve prepared. Look where they started and where they are now.’”
Emphasizing current students
Darryl Isom, director of admissions and recruitment at Morehouse College, says the Atlanta institution has always showcased its successful alumni, but they are now ramping up their efforts to attract top scholars. Not only are they highlighting their alumni and current students, but also outstanding incoming freshmen.
