Dr. Luke Schultheis

Dr. Luke David Schultheis was appointed to the newly created position of Vice President for Enrollment, Planning and Effectiveness on December 1, 2017.

A national leader in enrollment management, Dr. Schultheis has over 20 years of experience in higher education as a faculty member, chair, dean, and senior administrator, following an initial career in the hospitality industry. He is known widely for his expertise in ensuring student success, particularly for underserved populations, and served as Vice President for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers from 2014 to 2017, where he served as inaugural chair of the Strategic Planning Committee for two years.

Dr. Schultheis most recently served as the Assistant Dean for Student Success and Director of the Neighborhood Student Success Collaborative at Michigan State University. He previously served as Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management at Virginia Commonwealth University, and before that as Associate Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

While at Virginia Commonwealth, Dr. Schultheis’ efforts led to significant increases in retention and graduation rates, increased degree production, stronger and more diverse undergraduate, graduate and professional enrollments, and revenue increases that were channeled back into student support and the academic enterprise. In addition, he successfully addressed disparities in student success, bridging the gap in graduation rates along racial/ethnic and socioeconomic lines. Concurrently, racial/ethnic minorities and Pell Grant recipients entered graduate and professional schools at higher rates than majority students within three years of earning their undergraduate degrees, an outcome that garnered national attention. His leading-edge work in applying microgrants to support student graduation led to him mentoring three universities on developing microgrant programs through the Association of Public Land Grant Universities–Urban Serving Universities.

Dr. Schultheis has presented at numerous national and regional conferences on enrollment management best practices over the past 15 years. Moreover, he has reviewed over 50 proposals for scholarly societies, and has authored numerous book chapters and journal articles on admissions and enrollment management. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board for Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly and the Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Journal, and has reviewed articles for the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice.

Dr. Schultheis received his Ph.D. in Education Studies from the University of Nebraska, an Ed.M. and M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Columbia University, an M.S. in Hospitality Industry Studies from New York University, a B.S. in English from the City University of New York, and an A.S. from Johnson & Wales University.