Michelle C Browning

Utilizing Tenets of Servant Leadership to Enhance Student Enrollment, Completion, and Retention in Higher Education Michelle C Browning

The focus of this handbook is to provide a framework drawn from the tenets of servant leadership to address the challenges related to enhancing student enrollment, retention, and completion within higher education. The phrase "servant leadership" was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay published in 1970. The servant leader theoretical framework holds that the servant leader is a servant first, ensuring that other people's highest priority needs are being served. Greenleaf asserts that caring is the rock upon which a good society is built. The servant leadership philosophy is ripe for enrollment managers within the higher educational arena facing many challenges related to student enrollment, retention and completion. Challenges include the competitive landscape, scarce resources, cultural shifts, and new learning technologies. Utilizing the tenets of servant leadership including listening, empathy, stewardship, and commitment to the growth of people, solutions may be developed to overcome these challenges and achieve higher levels of student and institutional success.