The purpose of the study was to analyze strategies and techniques used in graduate student recruitment efforts at institutions of higher education which have developed graduate student recruitment programs involving administrative personnel in graduate schools. The population consisted of 71 graduate school deans. The deans, however, were given the alternative of selecting an alternate administrator to respond to the survey provided the alternate possessed experience with graduate recruitment activities.A Likert-type instrument consisting of 42 questionnaire items was utilized to gather data pertaining to the respondent and the institution included in the survey, organization for graduate recruitment, current and desired involvement with recruitment administrative functions, plus usage and perceived effectiveness of selected strategy/techniques used in graduate recruitment.Findings1. Institutions having the greatest available finances for graduate recruitment activities tended to have coordinated recruitment programs.2. Graduate administrators expressed strong interest in being involved with the development of recruitment planning, setting goals and identifying desirable recruitment strategies and techniques.3. A lack of formal training existed for personnel engaged in graduate student recruitment.4. Financial assistance, prompt response to applicant inquiry, and personal contact from the concerned department (faculty) were perceived as very effective student recruitment strategy/techniques.5. The utilization of alumni as well as establishing contact with representatives from business and industry were viewed as valuable but relatively untapped sources for increasing the number of graduate student applications.Conclusions1. The projected decline in the 18 to 24 year-old population group can be off-set partially by conscientious efforts to attract former degree recipients from other age groups, women and minorities.2. Graduate student recruitment has traditionally differed from undergraduate recruitment. Much, of the current activity conducted as. graduate recruitment is uncoordinated and difficult to monitor; however, efforts to organize graduate recruitment programs are attracting the attention of graduate administrators nationally, thus creating the potential for an emerging professional area in graduate education.3. Financial support for coordinated graduate recruitment programs will be derived predominantly from the university budget.4. Faculty are imperative to successful graduate student recruitment, therefore, recruitment planning should include ways to effectively utilize outstanding faculty in the recruitment process.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to survey Liberal Arts II Colleges nationally to determine the strategic marketing orientation adopted by these small, private colleges. A random sample of 198 Liberal Arts II schools were surveyed. Three top administrators at each school, the president, academic dean, and admissions officer, received the mailed surveys. The research instrument - the Academic Marketing Strategy Survey - combined questions on institutional characteristics, administrators' perceptions of the acceptability and effectiveness of college marketing programs, and the Marketing Index for Higher Education (Kotler, 1977).Findings showed little or no relationship between measures of college "success" (enrollment trend, and trend in quality of the student body), and either level of college strategic orientation, or administrators' perceptions of the acceptability and effectiveness of college marketing programs. Discriminant analysis produced some statistically significant relationships between the following institutional characteristics and other variables:1.In geographic regions with fewer Liberal Arts II colleges,admissions officers were more enthusiastic about marketingprograms in their colleges;For the smaller Liberal Arts II colleges, annual strategic planning may be problematic in its ability to produce clear and comprehensive marketing strategy.Recommendations for further research include investigating- why marketing programs seem well-accepted among administrators, while bearing so little relationship to measures of success. Correlating perceptions and levels of marketing orientation with "success" variables may be too simplistic. / Department of Educational Leadership

Student-run public relations firms are part of collegiate public relations pedagogy, and this study used a mixed-method approach to analyze such firms on U.S. campuses. A listing of campuses with student-run firms was created as part of this study. Through an online survey questionnaire, advisers from 55 of the 119 student-run firms provided data about firm characteristics and observations about student learning and career development. Multiple correspondence analyses was used to see if the firms grouped into clusters and somewhat aligned with previous research by Lee Bush in 2009. Firms clustered into four groups, with the fourth group representing a mix of the other three. One additional finding was that firm characteristics are more similar than dissimilar even when comparing firms of varying years in operation. Analysis of variance to compare characteristics between different types of firms revealed that one type of firm tended to employ students at a higher average number of hours per week (F = 6.61, eta squared=0.16) and one was more likely to be accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (F = 3.71, eta squared=0.13). Advisers reported mostly positive reflections on observed transformations they see in their student workers and the value of the firm experience including how it helps students in post-graduation job attainment. Responses to a graduate questionnaire is included but, because of low response rate (N = 6), provided only cursory information.