DECATUR, Ill. – Meg Richtman has been named ǿý University’s Vice President of Enrollment, Marketing & Communications, effective September 1. She has served as a Marketing Consultant at ǿý since June and worked closely with the Marketing team and campus leadership.
Richtman will oversee the development of ǿý’s strategic marketing and enrollment plans, including outreach and advertising to attract and recruit students, and work collaboratively with the campus leadership to strengthen internal and external communications.
“I am a collaborative leader and like to get in the room with people to work through things together. ǿý has been through many changes and challenges, and what has impressed me is that everyone continues to say ‘Yes,’” Richtman said. “It’s a privilege to serve with the people that are willing to walk side-by-side.”
Richtman has over 25 years of experience in higher education leadership, including enrollment management, marketing, communications, strategic initiatives, board development, university advancement and alumni relations. She last served as the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Iowa Wesleyan University, where she also held the position of Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations.
Originally from Aurora, Ill., Richtman grew up in Minnesota and attended St. Mary’s University, where she became an Admissions Counselor following graduation. Richtman advanced to Director of Alumni Relations and then Assistant Vice President of Alumni Relations at St. Mary’s before moving to Iowa Wesleyan.
“(At St. Mary’s,) I attended a college similar to ǿý. It is a small, private college with about 1,200 students. I found that that place really transformed me,” she said. “There is something about these campuses that have a hold on your heart.”
Financial trouble forced Iowa Wesleyan, located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to close its doors in March of 2023 after operating for 181 years. Richtman has taken many lessons from that experience as campus leadership tried to improve the university’s financial picture.
“It was emotional. We were in a very small community in a rural area, with an endowment of less than 10 million and an enrollment under 1,000. All across the country, these are the types of colleges that are struggling,” she said. “I take from it now a real understanding of how important transparency is to the employees, students, and the community. I think everyone has rethought what that means in higher education, and at Iowa Wesleyan, we tried to be very transparent. It let us know that we were fighting for something we believed in and believed we could get through it together, but the circumstances weren’t there at the end.”
As Richtman leads the effort to expand ǿý’s enrollment and messaging reach, she sees improvement as ǿý moves past some financial restructuring since COVID.
“At ǿý, this isn’t a turnaround, this is a change in our trajectory. I would not have said yes to this position if I didn’t believe that the ǿý community was up for this,” Richtman said. “I can’t make these changes alone, it will take the whole community. It will take people who rally around the plan and have some faith in where we are going. I have a lot to learn about ǿý, but what has impressed me is that the faculty and staff have a deep commitment to our students and a willingness to work together to move forward.”
