Roger J. Thompson
Dr. Roger J. Thompson is the Vice President for Enrollment Management, serving as the chief enrollment management officer for the University of Oregon, and is responsible for student recruitment and retention. This effort is implemented through the departments that comprise the Division of Enrollment Management (EM): the Office of Admissions, the Office of the University Registrar, Enrollment Management Research, Enrollment Management Strategic Communications, Student Orientation Programs, and the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships. These departments provide services to prospective students, currently enrolled students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the UO.
During the course of Dr. Thompson’s two-year tenure, enrollment at the University of Oregon has reached record levels for total enrollment at 24,500 students, and the entering class of 2011 set University of Oregon records for academic quality as measured by high school grade point average and standardized test scores. In addition, the 2011 class was the most diverse entering class in the history of the institution in terms of ethnicity and social economic status, with the class more diverse in terms of ethnicity than the state of Oregon. With nearly 25% of our new students receiving federal Pell Grants, the class is also economically diverse. International enrollment reached a record level in 2011 as well, and the freshmen to sophomore retention rate increased to 86%, another university record.
Prior to arriving at the University of Oregon, Dr. Thompson served as the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Special Advisor to the President at Indiana University in Bloomington. During Thompson’s four-year tenure at Indiana University, the University not only reached record enrollment, growing from approximately 38,000 students to over 42,000 students, but the quality of the freshman class grew to the highest level in their history, and the average SAT score grew by 100 points from 1103 to 1203. Additionally, new financial aid programs were developed and implemented to help low- and middle-income families with the cost of attending college, and a new approach to merit-based scholarships was introduced and implemented. The signature institutional aid program “21st-Century Scholars” was recognized by the College Board as a model for effectiveness in addressing college affordability.
Dr. Thompson also served at the University of Alabama, prior to beginning at Indiana University, for nearly nine years in a number of roles in Enrollment Management, eventually becoming the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management. In every year he was responsible for enrollment, the institution set records for total enrollment, entering freshmen class size, academic quality, and diversity, including African American enrollment growing by nearly 50%. Dr. Thompson was also recognized for his contribution to the university by receiving the Robert Vance Award, named in recognition of the leadership provided by federal Judge Vance, who was instrumental in enforcing desegregation in the South in the 1960s, and he was awarded lifetime membership to the University of Alabama national Alumni Association. Dr. Thompson also served in a number of capacities at the University of Southern California for nearly eight years, and prior to his tenure at USC, worked in student affairs at other institutions.
Dr. Thompson has been a frequent presenter at national and regional conferences throughout the country, and has published in the areas of college choice, student persistence, student success, and affordability issues in higher education. He also serves on the Editorial Board for the higher education journal College and University and on the Advisory Board for the national publication Enrollment Management Report. Dr. Thompson is also a member of the National Council on Enrollment Policy and Planning and has led the formation of an informal AAU group of Chief Enrollment Management Officers.
A native Oregonian, Dr. Thompson earned a BA in Broadcasting from California State University, Long Beach; an MS from the University of Central Missouri; and a Doctorate in Higher Education Policy and Administration from the University of Southern California.