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Asst. VP for Enrollment Management and Admissions, Southeast Missouri State University

2025 ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥ Elections Candidate- Vice President for Admissions and Enrollment Management

Position Statement:

Joining Southeast Missouri State University’s Office of Admissions in July 2003, Lenell Hahn has over 22 years of experience in higher education admissions and recruitment.  She began serving as director of admissions in January 2013.  On April 1, 2025, she was named the Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management and Admissions expanding her leadership role to support the offices of the Registrar, Online and Graduate Services.  

Lenell provides leadership for the development and implementation of effective strategies to attract and enroll new students, as well as advocate for access to higher education.  Leveraging technology in the recruitment and admissions process has been key to the enrollment success Southeast has experienced.  Implementing Element451 in 2020 significantly enhanced SEMO’s engagement with future Redhawks through every stage of the funnel.

Her educational background includes an associate of arts degree from Three Rivers College and bachelor of science in business administration (BSBA) and master’s in business administration (MBA) from Southeast Missouri State University. She has completed professional certifications and trainings in enrollment analytics and customer service excellence.  Over the last 22 years, Lenell has presented at numerous state and national conferences to share her knowledge with other professionals.

“Southeast challenged me but also believed in me when I was a student. The relationships I built with faculty and staff were key to me seeing the potential in myself and encouraging me to get involved and take on leadership roles. From being a founding member of Omicron Delta Kappa's chapter at SEMO to winning first place in the Delta Epsilon Chi national competition to traveling abroad visiting four countries in Europe, these experiences have shaped who I am today.  My commitment is to help others see the impact a college degree can have on their life and close the gap in them achieving their dreams.” 

1. Campus & industry leadership.
1. Serve on Enrollment Transformation Task Force, Archer Education Online Work Group, RNL Advance Financial Aid Solutions (AFAS) Group, and co-chair the Enrollment Marketing Task Force and Employee Process Improvement Team.
2. Guest on multiple podcast in the last year: NEXT Office Hour with Jeff Selingo, Mission Admissions with Jeremy Tiers, In Your Element with Branden Henkle and Danilla Nordin, ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥ Admit It, and Virtual Forum with The Chronicle on AI and Education.
3. Presented at four conferences in the last year: Element451 Engage Summit, National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) National Conference, Missouri Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admissions Officer (MACRAO) State Conference, and Missouri School Counselor (MSCA) Conference.
4. Interviewed and published in The Chronicle of Higher Education Insights Report on AI as an Efficiency Engine: How the Technology is Affecting Campus Outside of the Classroom.
5. Invited to serve on a panelist at the ASU+GSV AI Revolution Show in San Diego, California on April 6, 2025.
2. Desire to facilitate the Strategic Enrollment Plan for the campus.
1. Serving as a member of the Enrollment Transformation Task Force have been a significant contributor to setting priorities and championing accomplishing goals.
3. Ability to support unit leaders with process and opportunity analysis to identify areas for staff efficiency or student experience gains.
1. Proposal to create the Transfer Center is a prime example where I met with the Registrar, director of Academic Advising, and director of SEMO Online to gain support before submitting the proposal.  This resulted in a strong plan being finalized, approved and resources secured.  It has resulted in a 7% growth in transfer students for fall 2024 and 11% growth in spring 2025.
2. The partnership with Archer Education and their good, better, best approach has resulted in streamlined application processing for many of our graduate program.  It took collaboration across many units to accomplish.  I am eager to support continued movement from good to better and best.
4. Leverage systems supporting enrollment and retention for all populations we serve.
1. With the adoption of Element451 in 2020, we have modernized the way we communicate with not only populations served by the Office of Admissions, but also International Education and Services, SEMO Online, and Graduate. 
2. Our Transfer Center Team benefit from Support Net with their expanded advising and enrollment role with transfer students.
3. Interest in supporting new technologies, such as, the selection and implementation of catalog, curriculum and scheduling software.    
5. Importance of using data analytics for monitoring progress towards goals and basing decisions.
1. Serving on the RNL Financial Optimization Work Group, we established application, confirmation and enrolled goals for domestic and international students.  On a weekly basis, we are monitoring progress toward goals and using data for short term tactical adjustments and long term planning for upcoming student recruitment cycles.
6. High touch recruitment practices augmented by AI Assistants.
1. Our adoption of AI assistants have saved all of our recruitment teams (domestic, international, online, etc.) 384,598 minutes in the last year.  Over 20% of our AI Assistant conversations occur after hours and only 6% need to be handed off to a human team member.  This has freed our teams to be less reactive to a large volume of emails, SMS and phone calls to being proactive with more personalized and intentional outreach to move students through the enrollment funnel.   
2. We train our student tour guides and admission counselors to use a relationship based approach when connecting with future Redhawks.  For them to be able to speak to the students interests and motivations, they must knowledgeable on opportunities at the University resulting in a comprehensive training from experts across campus.  
7. Budget and managing contracts.
1. I serve as the financial manager for eight indexes totaling nearly $700,000.  Monthly, I relay on the budget data retrieval tools to compile reports to monitor budget available, track expenses and project budget surpluses or deficits.
2. Currently, I sign the contract and authorize payment for nine partnership.  These include: Encoura (ACT), College Board (SAT), Niche, EAB Appily (formerly Cappex), National Student Clearinghouse, Parchment, ZeeMee, and High School Counselor Marketing.
3. In 2019, I was the key decision maker and signed the Element451 contract, but when we completed our multi-year contract renewal negotiations in 2022 it transitioned to IT signing the contract and authorizing payment.