COLORADO SPRINGS Colo.
The Air Force
Academy risks falling behind elite
universities in recruiting a diverse student body unless it invests in
sophisticated, data-driven techniques to find qualified students, a former Air
Force leader said.
“Competition for top talent nationally, especially in
math and science, is getting fiercer,” Robert Goodwin, former deputy
assistant secretary of the Air Force, told the school’s Board of Visitors on
Friday.
Goodwin, a 1994 academy graduate who left the Air Force in
March, led a yearlong study of academy recruiting and admissions processes
after an audit in 2005 criticized the institution’s efforts.
“The academy has achieved success to date, but they are
not well-postured with proper staffing, sophisticated data tools and data, and
involvement of senior Air Force leadership in academy marketing and
recruitment,” he said.
Goodwin said the academy needs more admissions staff and
more money to gather demographic information, and that the school must do a
better job of analyzing the information to identify nontraditional students who
might make good leaders.
His report suggests changing criteria for screening recruits
so that a student with a job and helping raise his siblings in a single-parent
family is recognized for leadership along with the straight-A student who is an
Eagle Scout.
