Rogers State University has named enrollment specialist Fred Dietz as the new director of admissions. Dietz assumed his role July 10 and has hit the ground running in leading the university’s efforts in recruiting prospective students to RSU.
While Dietz may be new to Rogers State, he has previously worked with RSU Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Richard Beck, serving together at a university in Texas.
“In 2005, Dr. Beck hired me as a director of admissions when we were at Angelo State University (in San Angelo, Texas),” Dietz said. “While we were both there, I reported to him, and we worked together for about five years before he left Texas to come to Rogers State University.
“We stayed in touch over the years, and while he established himself at RSU, I continued to advance in my own career in Texas,” he said. “When I was at Midwestern State University (in Wichita Falls, Texas), he mentioned to me that the admissions director (at RSU) had left, and that the university was deciding what to do.
“I had always known about Rogers State through Richard (Beck), what a great university it is, so I expressed an interest in the position, applied for it, was eventually interviewed, hired, and the rest is history,” he said.
As the new director of admissions, Dietz will direct and manage the comprehensive recruitment strategies and admissions operations for the university; lead the university’s Office of Admissions; develop tactics and activities related to the recruitment of prospective students; provide leadership and direction on matters related to enrollment goals, tactics, promotion, and execution; and more.
Dietz said he hopes to bring his decades of experience and his “outside the box” thinking to the university to improve recruitment.
“RSU has a good foundation for recruitment, so I’m wanting to bring my own experience and build upon that foundation to help us become maybe a little more strategic in how we go about recruiting,” he said. “For the first 30 days, I’ll be studying where we are, what we’re doing, what we’re not doing, and so forth, but going into next fall, I think we’ve got to broaden our scope as to how we search for students – I think that’s a big component. Do we just reach out to high school students? Do we do some direct marketing?”
Dietz said the enrollment cycle since COVID has taken a downturn – something he hopes to address in his new role.
“Overall, enrollment has been on a gradual decline, and the regionals have been hit more than the public universities, so it’s important that we broaden our footprint a little bit, become more proactive in engaging potential students.”
Dietz said the university has been working with a consulting firm for the past year to ascertain specific areas of need and potential approaches to recruitment, which will be instrumental in developing new strategies.
“The bottom line? Enrollment is key,” he said.
Dietz is married to his wife, Alexandra, and the couple has a large black Labrador named Demi. The couple will be making their home in Claremore. As one of his pastimes is spending time outdoors, he said he looks forward to getting to walk on the nature trail on campus.
Dietz earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications and political science from Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida, and a Master of Arts in Teaching in guidance counseling and administration, also from Jacksonville University.
Prior to working for RSU, Dietz served at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, from 2018 to 2023, first as the vice president for enrollment management and then as special assistant to the president. He previously served at Murray State University in Kentucky from 2010 to 2018, serving first as executive director of enrollment management and then as associate vice president, enrollment management. Prior to his time at Murray State, he served as executive director of enrollment management at the University of North Texas at Dallas. Before that, he served as both director of admissions and executive director of admissions and enrollment management at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. He previously served as assistant dean of academic affairs/director of enrollment services at Flagler College in St. Augustine and Tallahassee, Florida. Other previous roles include director of admissions at Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri; associate director of admissions at Flagler College; and associate director of admissions at Jacksonville University.
RSU is the Tulsa metro’s only public four-year residential university. Learn more and apply at www.rsu.edu.