Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Vice President for Enrollment Management Bernetta Millonde has accepted the position of executive director at UrbanPromise, a Christian-based, outreach and support program for children and teens in Camden, N.J. This is a prominent role that closely aligns Bernetta’s talents with her values. At UrbanPromise, Bernetta will be responsible for all business operations, including financial planning and budgeting, program oversight, marketing and fund-raising, and facilities management. 

Bernetta has been a talented and highly valued colleague. She joined FDU in 2002 and was named vice president for enrollment management in 2005. Under her leadership, we established a very successful prospect management program that has significantly increased applications from a more diverse and academically gifted student population.

Bernetta further enhanced the campus visitation programs, which consistently result in above average applications and enrollments. She also successfully increased the first-time, full-time enrollments at the Metropolitan Campus, while simultaneously reducing the enrollment of the associate degree program in accordance with our strategic priorities. And, she led the efforts that resulted in the banner year of 2006, in which FDU recruited one of its strongest classes in history and the largest in more than a decade.

Above all, though, I know Bernetta’s greatest satisfaction at FDU was nurturing and developing an outstanding team of dynamic professionals. These individuals will continue to serve the University well. I know you will join me in congratulating Bernetta and wishing her success in her new role. She is leaving with a strong foundation in place, and we are fortunate to have an experienced, skilled and highly motivated successor. 

Effective February 1, our enrollment management operations will be led by Jonathan Wexler. Jon began at FDU on January 2 as the associate vice president for enrollment management. He was previously the associate vice president for enrollment at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., where he oversaw undergraduate and graduate admissions, enrollment communications and the admissions counseling program. He also was the liaison to the athletics department and was instrumental in executing strategies to increase the academic strength of the class.

Jon previously worked as the dean of undergraduate admissions at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he helped create an Honors College and expanded the recruitment of out-of-state and residential students. Jon also served as the director of graduate recruitment at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa. There, he led the marketing and recruitment of the initial LeBow College of Business one-year MBA program. This full-time MBA program was the first of its kind within the Philadelphia region.

Jon earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and has a dual bachelor’s degree in political science and communication from Goucher College in Baltimore, Md.

Please join me in welcoming Jon to the University. I know he will continue the momentum that Bernetta and her team have built and will make significant contributions to the growing success and distinction of our enrollment management programs.

Thank you,
Michael Adams