Michael Drish Named Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Vanderbilt University
Michael A. Drish, a seasoned university admissions professional with more than two decades of experience spanning public and private institutions, has been named executive director...
Michael A. Drish, a seasoned university admissions professional with more than two decades of experience spanning public and private institutions, has been named executive director of undergraduate admissions at Vanderbilt University.
Drish brings to Vanderbilt a demonstrated commitment to and deep understanding of best practices nationally and internationally in the fields of higher education, undergraduate admissions and enrollment management. He also has strong ties to the university. Drish was senior assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Vanderbilt from 2006 to 2012, and he earned his master’s in organizational leadership from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development in 2011.
Drish comes to Vanderbilt from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he served as director of first-year admissions beginning in 2020. There he was directly responsible for strategic planning, management and daily administration of first-year student admissions. He led strategies relevant to staff development, innovative recruitment and yield efforts, data-informed analysis and reporting, and the implementation of new systems. He also directed initiatives to attract, recruit and enroll a talented and diverse student population in support of the university’s vision and goals.
“I’m incredibly excited to return to Vanderbilt and to work with its highly dedicated and driven undergraduate admissions team,” Drish said. “Vanderbilt’s well-earned reputation as a premier college destination has been on a steep upward trajectory for a number of years. I’m thrilled to be part of the team recruiting the most accomplished, talented and diverse students from around the globe to a university that offers them an academic and undergraduate residential experience that is second to none.”
WittKieffer’s Shelley Arakawa, J.D. led this search.
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