The incoming class of 2018 first met Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admission Grant Gosselin the first time that he met many Wheaton students.
Packed into uniform white chairs in Haas, we were given a warm welcoming speech, and hopefully you were paying enough attention to appreciate it. If not, or if you have yet to meet him, I had the chance to talk with him about his transition to Wheaton.
Dean Gosselin came to Wheaton from Babson College alongside President Hanno this year. He has worked with Hanno for eight years, and has nothing but praise for our new president.
“President Hanno has such an incredible knack for understanding and collaborating with faculty and staff,” Gosselin said. “He’s probably the most approachable college president I can imagine.”
At Babson, Gosselin worked as dean of undergraduate admission, and moved into the position of vice president of enrollment there in 2006. In that role, Gosselin worked extensively with graduate students to boost Babson’s graduate enrollment, but sacrificed time spent with undergraduates. For this reason, among others, he chose to come join us at Wheaton.
“Wheaton was very attractive to me,” Gosselin said, “because it allowed me to return to a sole focus on undergraduate admission, which is really where my passion is.”
He continued by saying, “We need to think [about] what might we be able to implement, in terms of new strategies, to bring Wheaton to new heights in terms of our success in enrolling students down the road.”
Dean Gosselin encourages students to come and talk with the admission office if you have any feedback about the admission process, or ideas that you think would benefit the college in terms of reaching new students. He also encourages students to become student ambassadors to help prospective students connect personally with our College through guided tours, hosting, and peer-to-peer experiences.
Within the coming year and years to come, Dean Gosselin hopes to exercise his passion to its fullest potential here at Wheaton. “The challenge we have is to ensure that the students who apply fully understand the great things happening here at Wheaton, so that when they ultimately make their decision, Wheaton is right at the top of their list,” he said.
To do this, he and the admission team are already hard at work to create new ways for prospective students to connect with the college, and to create what Gosselin calls “an affinity for Wheaton” as early as possible.
In addition to working to establish great communication between the college and prospective students, Gosselin also is looking to better understand how business is done here at the college, and assess where we are as a school.