Get to Know: Enrollment Management and Services

The Division of Enrollment Management and Services (EMAS) oversees critical academic services that promote positive student outcomes and serve the overall success of the university. From scholarship programs to parent and family services, research and more, the unit strives for excellence in service to the campus community.

We sat down with Dr. Louis Hunt, senior vice provost for enrollment management and services, to talk about how EMAS is integral to promoting and strengthening NC State’s academic reputation.

What is the role of the Division of Enrollment Management and Services at NC State?

The Division of Enrollment Management and Services provides a wide variety of services to the campus that fall into two main categories. One is to support the student lifecycle — from prospective students through graduation and beyond. EMAS also provides much of the core infrastructure that supports the academic mission of the university — like the systems that maintain academic records, enforce academic policies, and disburse scholarships and financial aid. EMAS is a service unit that is organized to support the academic mission of the university. It houses the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the Department of Registration and Records, the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, the Goodnight Scholars Program, the Joyner Visitor Center, Summer Sessions, Non-Degree Studies and oversight of education benefits and GI Bill for Veterans Affairs.

EMAS is very student-focused, but how does the unit work with and support faculty and staff at the university?

The student service components of EMAS are quite visible, but supporting faculty and staff is equally important to our mission. We provide the core systems that faculty and staff use in their academic activities. We enforce the rules and policies created through faculty governance and we provide data and analytics. But the most important thing we do is to provide an infrastructure that is flexible and forward-thinking; one that allows faculty to innovate and create better student outcomes. We work hard to support new initiatives like the World Language Exchange, the Intensive English Program, Living and Learning Villages, and academic support programs. It’s like that commercial that says, “… we make a lot of the things you use better.” EMAS tries to bring that attitude to everything we do. We like change, and we want to support new ideas that arise from the faculty and other units on campus.

How do the services and programs managed by EMAS align with NC State’s strategic goals of organizational excellence and strong local and global partnerships?

EMAS is essential to fulfilling NC State’s strategic objectives. Obviously, we are closely aligned to the first goal of the strategic plan, which is enhancing student success through educational innovation. But, supporting organizational excellence and strong local and global partnerships are clearly in our wheelhouse. I believe we have one of the most efficient and effective enrollment management operations in the country. Much of our success is predicated on effective partnerships with other units on-campus. The effectiveness of our partnerships with the Office of Information Technology, and especially Enterprise Application Services, is the envy of our peers, and it has greatly enhanced the academic mission of NC State. We have many examples of effective partnerships across campus, with units like the Office of International Affairs, the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, Athletics, General Counsel, and the Faculty Senate. We have meaningful partnerships off-campus too, which range from partnerships with high schools as far away as China, to productive collaborations with local institutions like Wake Technical Community College and UNC-Chapel Hill.

In what ways does EMAS work to strengthen NC State’s academic reputation?

We hope that everything we do works towards strengthening NC State’s academic reputation, but we have some actions that are particularly important to that task. It starts with our marketing and outreach efforts, which target parents, prospective students, high school counselors, and others. We create printed materials, websites, use social media, visit high schools and conduct recruitment activities across the globe, and we bring tens of thousands of visitors to our campus each year where they can see and feel for themselves the academic quality of NC State. Each of these strategic integrated marketing and communications activities highlight the quality of our faculty and academic programs, they showcase our facilities, and demonstrate the quality of our students and the transformative nature of the NC State experience.

What is something that people in the campus community may not know about EMAS?

EMAS is continuously evolving its organization and its services in response to a changing landscape and to better serve the needs of our campus. Recently, we worked with the Provost’s Office to develop the Professional Experience Program. The program has created 500 internship opportunities for students across the campus. More than half of these positions are undergraduate research opportunities, and other opportunities related to communications and marketing, diversity and student involvement, data analysis, health services and academic support services. This program allows for students to gain hands-on experience that complements their coursework and prepares them for careers after they graduate.

Learn more about how EMAS provides critical services to students, parents, and visitors to NC State University throughout the student lifecycle from recruitment, enrollment, retention through graduation and beyond.