Tulane hires new vice president of enrollment management

Satyajit Dattagupta has been named the new vice president of enrollment management at Tulane University, effective June 15. Dattagupta is currently vice president of enrollment management at Washington College, one of the nation’s top 100 Liberal Arts Colleges, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“Satyajit received the strong support of the search committee, which was greatly impressed by his vision for the future of university admissions, his commitment to expanding diversity at Tulane and his enthusiasm for continuing his career in New Orleans,” Tulane President Mike Fitts said.

“I am excited by the opportunity to work for a university like Tulane that is nationally recognized and has great ambitions to recruit and retain the best, brightest and most diverse student population,” Dattagupta said. “My skill set and passion line up perfectly with the goals of President Fitts and the Board of Tulane."

Dattagupta was responsible for a dramatic increase in applications, enrollment, retention and selectivity at Washington College. Last year, he and his team recruited a class of 407 first-year students that included 136 Presidential Fellows and nearly 100 students of color. With more than 60 percent of first-year students coming from outside of Washington College’s home state of Maryland, and with the average grade-point average rising to 3.7, the class of 2019 is considered one of the most diverse and academically strong in Washington College’s history.

Before Washington College, Dattagupta was the executive director of the Office of Enrollment at the University of Rochester. Prior to that, he was the associate director of admissions at DePauw University. He also held technology positions at the Minnesota State Colleges and University System and at Southwest Minnesota State University, from which he received a BS in computer science (summa cum laude) and an MBA. He received Southwest Minnesota State University's Graduate of the Last Decade Award in 2014.

Dattagupta succeeds Earl Retif who, during a more than 40-year career, brought registration at Tulane from punch cards to optical scan to telephone and finally to the Web. Retif is also credited with returning Tulane's incoming class numbers to pre-Katrina levels just two years after the storm.