David Kalsbeek

David H. Kalsbeek, Ph.D.

SEM Consultant – Human Capital Research Company, Chicago IL

Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing (emeritus) DePaul University (Chicago, IL)

David Kalsbeek is currently a consultant with the Human Capital Research company, a higher education consultancy based in Chicago that provides research and analytic support for colleges and universities – with a particular focus on strategic enrollment management.

Prior to joining HCRC in 2019, David served as senior vice president for the Division of Enrollment Management and Marketing (EMM) at DePaul University where he oversaw the wide-ranging activities designed to achieve the university’s enrollment goals and elevate DePaul’s market position and prominence. Joining DePaul in 1997, David led the marketing and enrollment components of three university-wide strategic plans with ambitious enrollment goals. The results of these efforts included record-breaking outcomes in enrollment growth, student quality profile and academic performance, program mix, student diversity, access for mission-driven populations, student retention and completion rates, as well as steady gains in net revenue outcomes, market share and presence, student satisfaction, service utilization, career placement and more.

Under David’s leadership, EMM at DePaul became renowned for strategic integration, innovation, and information-driven SEM. The scope of the many functions and responsibilities successfully and tightly integrated into one division led DePaul to be routinely cited by institutions nationally and internationally as a best practice model of enrollment management and was a key factor in DePaul’s success in achieving its goals and outcomes. Innovations included creating the Center for Access and Attainment, DePaul Central, Financial Fitness programs, the Transfer Articulation Center, test-optional admissions and the use of non-cognitive predictors of success, the Adult Enrollment Center and the Alliance for Health Sciences (a partnership between DePaul University and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science). Finally, his intense commitment to research and data analysis put DePaul at the forefront of using information to guide SEM efforts.

David is considered one of the seminal thought leaders in the formative evolution of the professional field of enrollment management His approaches and perspectives have been showcased by many professional associations and institutions and are cited in countless professional publications and doctoral dissertations. He is a frequent speaker,

having given over 110 professional presentations, and has authored more than 20 publications and chapters in eight books on higher education administration, marketing and enrollment management. For six years he taught the Enrollment Management course in University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Doctoral program in Higher Education Leadership, and is a faculty member in the University of Southern California certificate in enrollment leadership.

Prior to joining DePaul, David served as the senior enrollment management administrator at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and before that at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Mo. David holds a PhD in public policy analysis from Saint Louis University. He earned his master’s degree in higher education administration at The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, where he graduated summa cum laude with a major in philosophy.