Chatham reshuffle could affect international students
Declining foreign enrollment blamed
Chatham University is reshuffling part of its senior administration, and one position being cut may attract particular scrutiny from other campuses that have grown more reliant on overseas enrollment.
The school is eliminating its assistant vice president for international affairs position this semester, citing a decline in degree-seeking enrollment from abroad of more than 50% in five years. Chatham’s total has gone from 101 students in 2014 to 49 as of the fall, with the loss felt largely at the graduate level, officials said.
“We will continue to provide service and support to international students on campus, the English Language Program, and Education Abroad through the Office of International Affairs (OIA),” Chatham President David Finegold said in an email to campus this week. “As of February 1st, the staff of OIA will report directly to the vice president of academic affairs.”
Chatham’s international enrollment is minute relative to sprawling universities across the city such as Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, which both enroll thousands of students from abroad. But it is significant for Chatham, a campus of about 2,200 students, and the drop comes at a time when economic and political issues appear to have slowed the influx of foreign students to the U.S.
A report in November from the International Institute of Education in New York City found that while America remains the top destination with 1 million-plus students from overseas, the growth rate — at 0.05% — was the smallest in nearly a decade and a half.
Saudi Arabia, the fourth-largest sender of students, saw a 17% decline, according to the institute’s report for 2018-19, the most current available.
The report found that China alone accounts for 43% of
international enrollment in Pennsylvania, a share making the Keystone State’s campuses more reliant on that country than any other lead host state, save Ohio.
Bill Campbell, a Chatham spokesman, said the national trends were at work on his campus, including relationships with China and Saudi Arabia. Those have been the two leading senders of foreign students to the campus.
The start of the slide coincided with Chatham’s switch from an institution that enrolled women only at the undergraduate level, but Mr. Campbell said undergraduate numbers were less affected.
In fact, he said overall degree-seeking enrollment is up from Chatham’s precoed year of fall 2014, when it hit 1,787. As of this past fall, enrollment totaled 2,148, up from 2,080 the previous year, he said.
International students bring a diversity of perspectives that enriches the campus experience, school officials have long said. International students also have become an increasingly important source of enrollment and income to campuses, such as those in Western Pennsylvania that must factor population loss into recruiting plans.
A new men’s hockey team at Chatham a few years back drew eight Canadians and a Swede.
In addition to the changes in Chatham’s international student operation, Mr. Finegold in his email to the campus announced:
• A reorganization of the Office of Student Affairs, with Randi Congleton now reporting directly to the president and her title changing to the assistant vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, to reflect the scope of her work across the entire university.
• The Office of Career Development will be brought under the Office of University Advancement “to more closely align career development services and opportunities for our students” with Chatham’s alumni and potential employers.
• Eliminating the combined vice president of student affairs/dean of students position to create a more streamlined management structure, with Heather Black promoted to fill a standalone dean of student position.
• The dean of the Falk School of Sustainability position will be expanded to oversee both Falk and the Eden Hall Campus, to integrate and promote collaboration, meaning the executive director and dean of Eden Hall campus position has been eliminated. A national search for the new combined position will take place.
The changes will result in four administrative job losses, Mr. Campbell said.
Mr. Campbell said degree-seeking enrollment at Falk has grown 72% from Chatham’s pre-coed year of fall 2014. Back then it was 90, but now totals 155 as of fall 2019, up from 148 the previous year.
“Organizational changes like this are not easy,” Mr. Finegold told the campus in his email Wednesday.
“But the board and I feel these are necessary changes to improve operational efficiency, be responsive to the changes in our sector and at the university, and give us a stronger position to invest in continuing to move Chatham forward.”