Assistant Dean, Admissions

University of Oklahoma•Norman, OK

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Dean of Admissions is the College of Law’s senior admissions and enrollment leader. The Assistant Dean designs and executes a comprehensive, data informed admissions strategy that attracts, admits, yields, and enrolls outstanding students who will thrive at OU Law and contribute to the legal profession, the State of Oklahoma, and the broader public good. The Assistant Dean leads the JD admissions office, manages the full admissions cycle, advises the Dean and senior leadership on enrollment strategy, supervises admissions staff, partners with financial aid and communications colleagues, and serves as a principal public ambassador for OU Law. The position requires sound judgment, ethical leadership, comfort with data and technology, and the ability to build strong relationships with prospective students, pre-law advisors, alumni, faculty, staff, the bench and bar, and national admissions organizations. The ideal candidate will combine strategic enrollment experience with a student-centered approach and the operational discipline necessary to meet enrollment, academic quality, budget, and student success goals.

Requirements

Requires a terminal degree (e.g., Ph.D., Ed.D., J.D., M.D.) in related area
5 years of experience in a related field
Experience supervising professional staff or leading teams.
Experience managing budgets, vendors, travel, events, and communications campaigns.
Strong ability to use data to inform strategy, evaluate results, and communicate trends.
Excellent written, oral, interpersonal, and public speaking skills.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with prospective students, admitted students, faculty, staff, alumni, pre-law advisors, University partners, and external constituencies.
Strong professional judgment, discretion, confidentiality, and ethical decision making.
Exceptional interpersonal, organizational, and leadership skills, with the ability to build relationships among prospective students, alumni, faculty, staff, members of the bench and bar, governmental stakeholders, and community leaders.
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in a complex academic environment and advance the mission and strategic goals of the law school and university.
Ability to travel and work occasional evenings and weekends during recruitment and yield seasons.

Nice To Haves

Juris Doctorate from an ABA accredited law school or an advanced degree in higher education, enrollment management, public administration, business, communications, or a related field. The J.D. will satisfy the Ph.D educational requirement.
Experience in admissions, enrollment management, higher education administration, law school administration, student recruitment, legal education, professional school admissions, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated success developing and executing recruitment, admissions, yield, or enrollment strategies.
Law school admissions experience.
Experience with LSAC, CRM systems, admissions analytics, scholarship modeling, and data reporting.
Experience advising applicants regarding law school admissions, legal education, debt, professional goals, and career outcomes.
Experience developing pipeline, pre-law, first generation, rural, veteran, transfer, or nontraditional student recruitment initiatives.
Experience working with faculty admissions committees or senior academic leadership.
Knowledge of ABA accreditation standards, Standard 509 public information expectations, LSAC practices, and national law school admissions trends.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement an annual and multi-year admissions and enrollment strategy for the JD program.
Advise the Dean and senior leadership on admissions trends, applicant behavior, market conditions, scholarship strategy, tuition discount pressures, peer school competition, and enrollment risks.
Set and monitor annual targets for applications, admits, deposits, yield, class size, academic credentials, geographic reach, student quality, and mission aligned access.
Translate institutional goals into operational admissions plans, including recruitment territories, communications calendars, admitted student engagement, scholarship deployment, and yield initiatives.
Use data to evaluate recruitment investments, admissions communications, events, scholarship offers, travel, pipeline programs, and applicant engagement.
Prepare regular dashboards and reports for the Dean, senior leadership, faculty committees, and other stakeholders.
Lead a high touch, relationship-based recruitment strategy that strengthens OU Law’s visibility in Oklahoma, the region, and national markets.
Represent OU Law at recruitment fairs, LSAC forums, pre-law events, admitted student programs, alumni events, conferences, and other external engagements.
Build and maintain relationships with undergraduate institutions, pre-law advisors, honors colleges, pipeline programs, student organizations, community partners, alumni, and members of the bench and bar.
Develop targeted recruitment strategies for high-achieving applicants, Oklahoma residents, first generation and nontraditional applicants, military and veteran applicants, transfer students, and other mission aligned applicant groups, consistent with applicable law and University policy.
Oversee admitted student yield strategy, including admitted student days, individual counseling, faculty and alumni engagement, student ambassador programs, campus visits, virtual programming, and personalized communications.
Collaborate with faculty, alumni, current students, Career Development, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Alumni and External Relations, and Development to tell a compelling story about OU Law’s value, outcomes, academic strengths, professional pathways, and community.
Oversee the timely, fair, holistic, well-documented review and evaluation of applications, consistent with law school standards, University policy, and applicable legal requirements.
Evaluate applicant files, including academic record, LSAT or GRE performance, personal statement, resume, letters of recommendation, character and fitness disclosures, addenda, and other relevant materials.
Make or recommend admissions decisions under authority delegated by the Dean and in consultation with the faculty admissions committee as directed by the Dean.
Serve as the administrative liaison to faculty admissions committees and ensure faculty participants receive timely, organized, and complete materials.
Maintain confidentiality and professional judgment in all admissions matters.
Develop policies and training materials for file review, applicant communication, waitlist management, transfer admission, visiting admission, deferrals, reconsideration requests, and character and fitness issues.
Partner with the Dean and senior leadership to design and implement scholarship strategies that support class quality, access, enrollment goals, affordability, and financial sustainability.
Analyze scholarship offer patterns, discount rate, yield by scholarship level, net tuition revenue, peer competition, and student outcomes.
Counsel admitted students on scholarships, cost of attendance, debt, financial planning, and value, in collaboration with University financial aid professionals and the College of Law Dean of Students.
Ensure scholarship communications are clear, accurate, timely, and consistent with University policy.
Develop scholarship stewardship and donor funded scholarship processes in collaboration with Development, as assigned.
Oversee admissions data systems, CRM tools, LSAC processes, application workflows, event registration, communications platforms, reporting tools, and related technology.
Ensure the accuracy and integrity of admissions data used for internal decision making, ABA reporting, LSAC reporting, accreditation, rankings, institutional research, and public communications.
Develop efficient workflows for application processing, document review, communications, travel, event management, scholarship tracking, waitlist management, deposits, melt prevention, and onboarding.
Use data analytics to identify recruitment opportunities, application bottlenecks, yield risks, and areas for operational improvement.
Partner with communications and marketing colleagues to develop clear, compelling, and accurate admissions messaging across email, web, print, social media, video, webinars, events, and admitted student materials.
Ensure that prospective and admitted students receive timely, personalized, and professional communications throughout the admissions cycle.
Help articulate OU Law’s distinctive value proposition, including academic rigor, affordability, student outcomes, faculty access, experiential learning, career preparation, technology and innovation, alumni network, public service, and Oklahoma’s legal market.
Review admissions facing web content and materials for accuracy, effectiveness, accessibility, and consistency with institutional priorities.
Lead, supervise, mentor, and evaluate admissions staff.
Establish office goals, performance expectations, service standards, workflows, and professional development plans.
Manage the admissions budget, including travel, recruitment events, publications, technology, vendors, student ambassadors, and related expenditures.
Foster a collaborative, ethical, student-centered, and results-oriented office culture.
Coordinate seasonal staffing, student ambassadors, faculty participation, alumni volunteers, and outside vendors as needed.
Serve as a member of the Dean’s senior administrative team or other leadership group as assigned.
Collaborate closely with Career Development, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Development, Alumni and External Relations, Registrar, and central University units as needed.
Represent the College of Law in University-wide enrollment, recruitment, admissions, and student success initiatives.
Perform other duties as assigned by the Dean.