Gatekeeper

Lee Coffin is the new vice provost for enrollment.

Coffin will bring more than 25 years of admissions experience, most recently at Tufts, when he arrives in July. “As the first member of my family to graduate from college, my work as an admissions officer celebrates the transformative power of a liberal arts education,” says the graduate of Trinity, who also holds a master’s in education from Harvard.

A quick Google search reveals some of his innovations. At Tufts, for example, Coffin oversaw an inviting blog that took readers behind the scenes with admissions officers. Then there’s the time he suited up to practice with the football team. Really.

Now “absorbing all I can” about his new employer, Coffin says he’ll be asking a lot of questions as he learns the College’s story and evaluates how his office will share that story: “My role is to represent the College by offering a compelling, authentic narrative of it to prospective students, not to sell it to them.”

Coffin says he’s also eager to hit the road and learn what high school guidance counselors are saying about Dartmouth. What else can we expect as he settles into his new position? “I will be digging into the data,” he says. The marriage of metrics and admissions will continue as Coffin explores and measures the growing statistics and numbers that increasingly dominate public perception of the process.

An emphasis on narrative storytelling. “Prospective students seem most surprised when I tell them that their stories matter as much as their own numbers,” says Coffin, who calls storytelling one of his strengths. “Your narrative, and how you shape it, can set you apart.”

The admissions office will likely get a new mascot. Coffin hopes to have Logan, his 4-year-old mini Labradoodle, regularly accompany him to work.