Doris Davis, dean of admissions at Barnard College and an expert in the field of enrollment management, has been named to the position of associate provost for admissions and enrollment at Cornell University, President Hunter Rawlings announced today, Oct. 21, 1999.

As associate provost for admissions and enrollment, which replaces the former position of dean of admissions and financial aid, Davis will be responsible for undergraduate admissions and enrollment universitywide.

"We are very pleased that Doris Davis will be joining us as associate provost for admissions and enrollment," Rawlings said. "She has a wide range of experience and has achieved excellent results at Barnard. I am confident she will be able to build on the excellent work Don Saleh has done in coordinating and managing Cornell's recruitment and selection activities."

Davis said she is delighted to be joining Cornell. "It is the perfect 'next-step' for me in my admissions career, and I look forward to the opportunities and challenges that this position will present. After 10-1/2 years at Barnard and over 17 years in the admissions profession, it is indeed an honor to assume this new position at Cornell. As an Ivy League university, Cornell stands as a premier institution.

"It is my hope and goal to enhance Cornell's already strong image among high school students and parents and to clarify Cornell's interesting and complex structure to students, parents and high school counselors. I hope also to create a more integrated admissions plan that will increase and enhance the work of the Undergraduate Admissions Office (UAO) and the individual colleges," she said. "By working as a team, the UAO and the colleges can blaze a new trail with regard to college admissions in general and Ivy League admissions in particular. I know that my years at Barnard and Yale have prepared me well for this new position, and I look forward to joining the Cornell community."

Davis will assume her new position April 2, 2000, but will be visiting campus for a week during January, February and March to become acquainted with the colleges and admissions office.

She will report to Provost Don Randel. "The associate provost's position is a strategic leadership position, and Doris Davis has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities," Randel said. "She has had experience working in both large and small environments as well as in a decentralized environment, and that experience will translate well to Cornell."

As associate provost Davis will lead strategic initiatives in the development of recruitment, admissions and enrollment practices; develop new directions to address market changes; and develop and implement policies and programs that support the university's goal of attracting a highly qualified, diverse student population to all of the undergraduate schools and colleges, said Vice Provost Mary Sansalone. Sansalone managed the nationwide search to fill the position.

Davis will oversee the Undergraduate Admissions Office, the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment and the Office of the Cornell Commitment, with a combined staff of more than 90. She also will work collaboratively with admissions offices in the seven undergraduate schools and colleges.

Sansalone said that at Barnard, Davis oversaw an ambitious and successful enrollment plan to improve Barnard's position both within its peer group and also within a global market.

As a result of the Barnard enrollment plan, applications increased by more than 122 percent in eight years; dependency on the wait list was reduced; admissions selectivity was increased; racial, ethnic and geographic diversity was improved; and academic quality was enhanced.

Randel noted that the university's objectives for undergraduate enrollment, outlined in a recent report for the Board of Trustees, include:

• Continuing to enhance the selectivity of the undergraduate student population;
• Continuing to enhance the diversity of the undergraduate student population while maintaining access to a Cornell education; and
• Curtailing additional growth in the on-campus undergraduate student population in order to stabilize overall enrollments.

"Doris Davis' appointment is key to helping Cornell meet these objectives," Randel said.

Before joining Barnard, Davis was associate director of admissions/director of multicultural recruitment at Yale University. She received her bachelor of arts degree in American studies from Wellesley College in 1977 and her master of arts degree in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1979. She also has done advanced doctoral work in American history at the University of California at Berkeley.