How did you get involved in college admissions?

I’ve been in college admissions for I think about 23 years now, so I’ve had the chance to work in both a public institution and two private institutions. I’ve been at Oberlin for 13 years, started here as an Assistant Director and then Associate Director for about eight years and then Dean. And I guess during that time I’ve had a chance to dabble in about all aspects of the process, from the visit, to the alumni admissions program and so forth.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I often wish that there were about 27 hours in each day, in order to do what I have to do on behalf of Oberlin and on behalf of the tremendous talented admissions and financial aid staff. It’s a great privilege to work with both of them.
It is a very hectic pace that we keep, but it is tremendously rewarding work every year to deliver an amazing new group of students to an amazing community. It propels us to do it again every year.
On a daily basis, there can be a great spectrum to what I do. On the one hand, I can meet with individual staffers on planning the “All Roads” program. The next moment, I could be editing the science brochure. I could have a meeting with members of the faculty, which I did yesterday. I then went to a meeting about the scope of our financial aid budget for the coming cycle. Earlier this week, I met with some of our trustees. Earlier today, we just finished a committee session where we were deliberating on some early decision candidates. ...
And at the end of every day, I come home to a great dinner from my husband — he’s a great cook — and lots of love from my dogs. That’s usually fairly late every day.

What are your feelings about the Michigan case?

The affirmative action issue has been looming large in all of our lives recently, so looming from smaller details into more big picture is a constant ebb and flow I guess of every day.
I’m concerned about how it will affect Oberlin, but I’m even in a larger sense concerned about the direction for higher education in general and how it affects the choice process that colleges will have for crafting their classes.