Leadership Corner: Scott Stensrud

Interviewed by Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

Age: 45

Title: Vice president for enrollment management (as of July 1)

Organization: Hawai'i Pacific University

High school: Coon Rapids High School, Coon Rapids, Minn.

College: Bachelor's degree in Business from Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; master's degree in leadership from Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minn.

Breakthrough job: Admissions counselor at Augsburg College. I started at the ground level in this field 22 years ago and never said no to an opportunity even when it meant more work or wasn't in my job description.

Little-known fact: I was an extra in the movie "Purple Rain."

Major challenge: Dealing with the local effects of national/global events such as economic ups and downs, Sept. 11 and an outbreak of the illness known as SARS.

Book recently read: "Angles and Demons" by Dan Brown

Hobbies: Coaching American Youth Soccer Organization games and volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America.

Q. How would you characterize the quality level of today's college candidates and how has that changed?

A. In many ways they've become much more sophisticated. You hear a lot in the media sometimes that you know that the students are not as interested or not as qualified, and there might be pools of students like that. But by and large the students we're dealing with are much more sophisticated consumers of everything, including higher ed. They're much more in the driver's seat. Schools are going after them.

Q. How does the Internet factor into global recruiting efforts?

A. It puts a lot more information in the students' hands right away. It used to be they would have to set up a time to come visit campus and ask you all these questions. That kind of information now is available online and what happens now is the student shows up and they've got pages printed out and they want to know specifics — detailed information that in the past was something you didn't have to go into. With the Internet, students can easily find out more themselves and they're shopping around a great deal more looking for things that in the past would not be on the list of things to be considered.

Q. Is there a downside to trying to recruit people to study in Hawai'i ?

A. We've got a distinct advantage that people will open our mail. They'll stop by our booth. I can almost guarantee you no matter where we travel in the world we're one of the most popular booths. They see Hawai'i and people come because of the allure of Hawai'i. Is there some (feeling that) Hawai'i can't be a serious place? Sure, a little. But because we get them to the front door, because we get them to the table, because they will open our materials, we have a chance to make the pitch. That greatly outweighs any downside of being from Hawai'i.

Probably where that hurts us more than others — mom and dad aren't going to give that student much slack. If you send a kid to Hawai'i and they have a bad semester are you going to send them back? Probably not. We know that for a fact the students are on a short leash and most of them know it.

Q. What's the best advice you could give to a prospective college applicant?

A. For a traditional-age student to be involved in school, and that you're better off in something that you really enjoy and be actively involved in that. My biggest thing is that I think we're forcing these traditional-age students to make decisions too early. There's nothing wrong with being undecided about what your major is going to be, yet there seems to be this big push over the years that students need to know exactly what they want to major in. I try to recommend to students: find out what you like doing and find out how to make a career out of it. In any program, there's nothing worse than being in a field because you thought you were going to be able to make a bunch of money doing it.

For the adult, it's just to start — to come back and start. The hardest thing in the world is to start again. It's just that you get set and you get kind of a routine and the thought of going back to school part-time or full-time is just as scary ... and maybe even scarier for an older student or an adult as it is for the high school student making that first transition to college.

Q. What kinds of unique benefits does Hawai'i have to offer in terms of getting a higher education?

A. One of the things is the diversity. What attracts many of the students from around the world to Hawai'i is the fact that they're going to get the chance to come and study in one place and learn not just about the students from Hawai'i, but students from around the world. And in Hawai'i the co-existence of the various cultures, I think that's attractive. They can come and live and learn in an environment that ought to be a model for the world. How many places are there where so many people from different backgrounds get along and co-exist other than Hawai'i?

For the local students staying here, it's the ability to kind of meet the world without ever having to leave their backyard.

Q. How have various global events affected the university's ability to meet a goal of one-third international enrollment?

A. The challenge of recruiting internationally has certainly been a big one. There's not been a lack of interest, it's more the visa issues. Even before 9-11 we had issues with the Asian economy when there was kind of a collapse there and with the changing demographics in Japan. It's shifting — what students are looking for and where they're coming from and the types of student they are have changed a great deal. You've really got to keep on your toes to see where are the countries where students can get their visas and where it makes sense for them to come to the U.S. and where they can afford to come to the U.S.

Q. What is your biggest challenge?

A. One of the biggest challenges is really keeping up with the demographic shifts. If you look at the population level of traditional-age students, that goes up and down. For the last several years we've been in an up, with ever-increasing numbers of high school graduates. Well, in a few years, that's going to turn around nationwide and in Hawai'i. One of the things that's helped us is we've been so diverse. It's not just Hawai'i. It's not just the Mainland. It's not just been international. It's been all three. If we had a dip in one area, there was always an increase in another.