As of Aug. 10, SMU has a new interim dean of admission. Stephanie Dupaul, former director of undergraduate admission for the Cox School of Business, was appointed the position and has taken it on with both excitement and ambition.
In taking this role, Dupaul will report to the Office of the Provost in supervising the recruitment and admission for SMU’s undergraduate programs in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Cox School of Business, Lyle School of Engineering, Meadows School of the Arts and Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.
While working with the recruitment officers within the different schools, Dupaul will also lead a staff in central admissions and work with the central Office of Public Affairs on recruitment marketing.
Dupaul has numerous goals to reach with her team in admissions, but her excitement portrays her confidence in achieving them.
“Right now, I feel like I’m on a listening tour—I’m meeting with people and asking what we do right and what we could do better,” she said. “I’m excited about adding to our prospect group, and about all of the ideas and enthusiasm everyone has for undergraduate admissions.”
Within the next several months, SMU plans to restructure the Office of Admission to continue increases in the number and quality of applicants. According to Dupaul, there are plans to implement these efforts in 2012.
“We want to reach out to new audiences that we haven’t before,” she said.
One way they plan to do this is by searching data from the results of the PLAN program (the “Pre-ACT test,” as Dupaul called it). This will help to identify new prospective students—similar to how SMU uses results of the PSAT.
“By using PLAN scores to identify prospects, we’ll expand the prospective student pool, which will then also expand the applicant pool,” she said.
Dupaul has replaced former Dean of Admission Ron Moss, who led SMU’s admission efforts for the last 17 years. Under his leadership, SMU saw a rise in SMU’s applications and SAT scores. Applications for this fall’s entering class reached almost 9,000, and the SAT scores have risen almost 100 points in the last 10 years.
The new dean of admission is not only excited to achieve these goals, but to work with her new staff.
“It’s a fun opportunity for me because I’ve worked in partnership with them before,” she said.
Before taking on her new position, Dupaul has led Cox undergraduate recruitment since 2002, improving the academic profile of students entering the Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) program. Before that, she served as Cox associate director of B.B.A. Advising (1996-2002).
