Oct. 1, 2009
Talk about going out on top.
Cynthia Gilberts is ending a 32-year career at University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie after accomplishing an ambitious goal set by Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen a few years ago: increase the university’s fall enrollment past the 9,000 mark.
Gilberts, who left Oct. 1 as executive director of enrollment services and director of admissions, saw the fall 2009 enrollment climb to a record 9,016. Her retirement was planned for some time, but meeting the chancellor’s challenge made leaving a little easier.
“I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to be part of a thriving university,” Gilberts said. “It's been a wonderful and fulfilling career. I feel lucky.”
“Working for UW-Stout was more than a job for Cindy, it was a passion,” said Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen. “She was totally dedicated to the institution and was a true professional in every respect. Her retirement will leave a big hole on campus.”
Gilberts began working for UW-Stout in 1977 as assistant director of advisement and school relations. She was named director of admissions in 1995 and added the title of executive director of enrollment services five years later.
The changes to the university over that tenure have been amazing, Gilberts said, and have helped her and her staff recruit more students to UW-Stout.
For example, UW-Stout for many years offered a limited number of undergraduate majors, she said, but the last few years have seen an explosion in those offerings. UW-Stout now offers 37 undergraduate majors and there are plans to add four more in the near future.
Gilberts said the university now has a major, for example, for students who want to attend medical or dental school. It also offers a number of engineering programs, including computer engineering.
“These new majors have opened up a whole new pool of applicants for us, no question,” Gilberts said. “That has changed tremendously over the years.”
Another major development that has helped with recruiting, she said, is the e-Scholar effort that provides a laptop computer for every undergraduate. “We had no trouble marketing the laptop program,” Gilberts said, because students and parents alike see that it “adds value to their education.”
Employers report that UW-Stout students show up much more ready than other students to use whatever technology is required in the workplace, she said.
“Companies don’t have to train our students on how to use the software,” Gilberts said, because they have been using it for four years.
A third major development was the designation of UW-Stout as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University by the UW System Board of Regents in March 2007. The three components of a polytechnic university — career-focused majors, the use of applied learning methods and collaboration with business, industry and other institutions — fit UW-Stout well, Gilberts said, and resonate with prospective students and their families.
“In my opinion, we have always been a polytechnic university,” Gilberts said. “Basically what we did was, we just put a name on it.”
Gilberts said her office has had to adopt some new strategies for reaching high school students to get them interested in coming to UW-Stout. “They are so much harder to get to,” she said of today’s high school students.
The admissions department has had to use a myriad of methods — including its Web page, social media like Facebook and Twitter, videos, etc. — to augment the traditional approaches of mass media advertising and visits to high schools.
“It’s a total cultural change,” she said.
As for the future, Gilberts said will serve on the advisory council of the National Hispanic College Fair Organization, which helps bring university representatives together with minority students. That will come after spending time with her parents and other family members.
“After 32 ½ years, it’s time to move on,” she added.
(UW-Stout has named Pamela Holsinger-Fuchs, who most recently worked at UW-Eau Claire, as Gilberts’ replacement. Details of that appointment are available in this news release.)
