Kara Hadley-Shakya joins admissions team as Executive Director of Recruitment and Admissions
Kara Hadley-Shakya joined the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) on July 1 as the Executive Director of Recruitment and Admissions. Hadley-Shakya, who most recently served as the Director of Admissions at the University of Northern Iowa, comes to UHCL with experience working at public universities in Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.
“Over the course of my career in higher education, I have gained a wealth of experience successfully mentoring highly functioning teams and meeting strategic enrollment goals,” Hadley-Shakya said. “Through these positions, I have developed fine-tuned skills to successfully hit the ground running in this new position.”
Hadley-Shakya joined UHCL with familiarity in supervising and developing outreach and recruitment staff, building and implementing communication plans for targeted audiences, utilizing various student information and constituent-relations management systems, working with multicultural students, and is a leader in maintaining and motivating a quality staff, according to a May 16 UHCL email.
Hadley-Shakya described her leadership style and work philosophy as one of support, mentorship, collaboration and inclusion. She said she intends to incorporate her philosophy into her work as Director of Recruitment and Admissions in order to help the university and student success.
“For the university to reach its enrollment goals, we must have strategic enrollment planning, which includes a comprehensive recruitment plan,” Hadley-Shakya said. “My focus is providing a seamless experience for prospective students during their college search process.”
Hadley-Shakya said she will work towards new objectives at UHCL in her new role. With her previous experience in the field of admissions and at other institutions, she hopes to accomplish this by implementing new programs and changes into UHCL’s admissions program.
“We are expanding our recruitment outreach in high schools and community colleges inside and outside the greater Houston metro area,” Hadley-Shakya said. “We are offering new on-campus visit opportunities to showcase what UHCL has to offer.”
In addition to furthering the university’s recruitment outreach, Hadley-Shakya noted that the admissions office will start a new student admissions ambassador program, in order to best connect with new Hawks.
“[I am particularly excited about] collaborating with student leaders, faculty and staff to recruit future hawks to the university,” Hadley-Shakya said.
She said she encourages any students who may be interested in involvement in these types of programs to reach out to her personally.
“If you are a student leader looking to get involved in the recruitment of new hawks, please reach out to me directly,” Hadley-Shakya said. “I would love to go for coffee and discuss the opportunity with you.”
Impressed with the campus culture from her first visit, Hadley-Shakya said she is enthusiastic about this new opportunity to work with those at UHCL.
“The main reason I work in high education is the ability to have a positive impact on students from diverse backgrounds to attain their academic and personal goals in a supportive and inclusive environment,” Hadley-Shakya said. “I am excited to work with the campus community to build recruitment to lead UHCL into the future.”
