REBEKAH MOAK WELCH

• Provide strategic leadership for a multi-unit student affairs portfolio within the University's largest and most academically diverse college, with responsibility for student services, advising, recruitment and retention, academic records and graduation, pre-professional advising and mentoring, experiential learning, personnel, budgets, assessment, enrollment management, and academic policy.
• Provide college-wide leadership for the interpretation, application, assessment, and certification of University and BCAS academic policies affecting advising, retention, recruitment, orientation, experiential learning, student organizations, graduation, transfer credit, registration, and related undergraduate processes.
• Lead a comprehensive restructuring of BCAS Student Affairs, redesigning positions and reporting relationships, rewriting job responsibilities, and creating opportunities for staff advancement to better align organizational capacity with student needs.
• Lead nearly 40 staff across multiple functional areas, with responsibility for organizational strategy, personnel, performance evaluation, resource allocation, salary recommendations, staff development, and workplace culture.
• Led student success and retention efforts during a period in which first-to-second-year retention increased from 84.6% for the Fall 2022 cohort to a record 88.7% for the Fall 2023 cohort, the highest rate in BCAS history.
• Strengthened retention support through more focused Academic Action processes, targeted outreach to first-year students on academic warning, development of a second-year course for academically at-risk students and students returning from suspension, and collaboration with the Capstone Center for Student Success.
• Identified a University policy that was creating barriers for students; engaged team members in peer-institution benchmarking, helped develop a revised approach, and advanced the proposal through the University approval process, resulting in a change to University policy.
• Developed a comprehensive professional development series to support the onboarding and continued growth of a significant cohort of new academic advisors; made the series available to advisors across campus.
• Create a dedicated transfer advising role and transitioned an experienced advisor into the position, increasing continuity for transfer students while re-engaging a seasoned professional who now leads improvements to transfer advising practices.
• Provide strategic leadership for BCAS experiential learning through ICUE, encompassing International Programs, Community Engagement, Undergraduate Research, and Externships and Internships; oversee expansion of high-impact opportunities including a Fellows program and development of a Chicago internship experience modeled on the College's successful Washington, D.C. program.
• Oversee enrollment management for BCAS core courses serving the University's undergraduate population, partnering with Undergraduate Admissions and academic departments to align course capacity with enrollment demand.
• Collaborate with academic departments, deans and associate deans, Undergraduate Admissions, the Office of the University Registrar, the Capstone Center for Student Success, Care and Wellbeing, Financial Aid, Student Account Services, and other campus partners on complex student and institutional issues.

• Directed a comprehensive student services operation supporting undergraduate nursing students and prospective students across recruitment, orientation, scholarships, academic advising, academic policy, upper-division promotion, records, retention, graduation, licensure, and student engagement.
• Led and developed Office of Nursing Student Services staff, with responsibility for personnel management, performance evaluation, policy implementation, staff meetings, and a supportive team culture.
• Acted as an academic policy leader and College registrar, partnering with the University Registrar to verify degree compliance and manage student processes involving registration, withdrawals, suspensions, reinstatements, graduation, and academic records.
• Managed upper-division promotion process, ensuring process integrity and data accuracy from application through selection and notification, including interviews and application of College requirements.
• Administered College scholarship process, ensuring recipient selection, eligibility monitoring, student communication, and effective scholarship account management.
• Coordinated undergraduate recruitment and prospective-student engagement as liaison with Undergraduate Admissions, President's Office, and campus partners, facilitating individualized visits and recruitment events.
• Led undergraduate recruitment and prospective-student engagement, serving as a liaison with Undergraduate Admissions, the President's Office, and campus partners and coordinating individualized visits and recruitment events.
• Served as the College's student success initiative liaison, collaborating with the Capstone Center for Student Success and other colleges on retention initiatives.

• Recruited high-achieving students, counseling prospective students and families on scholarships, admissions, academic programs, financial aid, and university opportunities to enhance awareness and access.
• Planned prospective-student receptions and VIP visits, coordinating Capstone Scholars Day for 1,200 scholarship-eligible students and parents to foster engagement and community.
• Managed Scholarship Distribution Project, distributing 3,000 scholarship certificates and coordinating UA representation at 100 high school awards programs to recognize student achievements.

• Managed undergraduate recruitment territories in Mississippi and Tennessee, fostering relationships with prospective students, families, high school counselors, and alumni while representing UA at recruitment events.
• Drove a 19.5% increase in Mississippi applications and a 25% increase in matriculation from 2006 to 2007; achieved a 16.6% rise in Tennessee applications and an 8% gain in matriculation during the same timeframe.

ABD