I am writing to share with you important updates in Enrollment Management. Jonathan Wexler, Ed.D., VP of Enrollment Management, recently informed me that he plans to step down from his position as vice president for Enrollment Management effective December 31, 2024. He will be pursuing opportunities related to his doctoral research, which examined the causation and process of mergers in higher education. Jon developed the Merger Runway Index (MRI) to determine the point at which the possibility of a merger should be considered, providing university leadership and board members with a blueprint for assessing institutional financial health.

Please join me in thanking Jon for his contributions to RPI. During his 9-year tenure as our chief enrollment officer, Jon has been a valuable champion for RPI, successfully increasing our class size and geographic diversity to historic levels. In fact, six of our largest freshman classes on record applied and enrolled under his leadership. Jon also grew the number of first-generation students.

Prior to joining RPI, Jon was successful in numerous leadership positions within higher education. He held senior leadership roles at Fairleigh Dickinson University, the University of Puget Sound, Polytechnic University, and Drexel University. Jon received his doctoral degree in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Goucher College, where he has been executive member and currently serves on the finance committee.

We are grateful to Jon for his commitment and contributions to RPI. We wish him the very best as he embarks on his next chapter. With Jon’s departure I have asked Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar, Ph.D., Ed.D., Vice President and Co-Head of OCEC, to lead the portfolio on an interim basis.