Administrator Advising Saudi University to Identify Kingdom's Future Scientists

Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Jim Goecker.

Jim Goecker

Jim Goecker, vice president for enrollment management and strategic communications, has been selected by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to serve on the Saudi Research Science Institute advisory board. 

The board oversees the program that brings high school students from across Saudi Arabia to KAUST to work alongside senior faculty mentors for a summer. The board also provides strategic direction, program development and operation for KAUST’s youth education programs across the kingdom. The SRSI goal is to develop and inspire the next generation of scientific and thought leaders for Saudi Arabia.

Goecker’s expertise in student recruitment has been used by KAUST in pursuing its mission of advancing science and technology in the country. He has made three trips to Saudi Arabia to review high school student applications for Saudi Research Science Initiative, while also educating Saudi high school and college students about admissions procedures at American colleges and universities.

KAUST has welcomed Rose-Hulman graduates for postgraduate educational opportunities since the university’s founding. High school students from Saudi Arabia have also attended Rose-Hulman after being interviewed by Goecker.

Since joining the Office of Admissions in 1986, Goecker has been involved in the recruitment of more than half of all living alumni of Rose-Hulman. He has served on committees of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, has been a presenter on multiple enrollment management issues at annual meetings of the NACAC and the ACT Enrollment Managers Conference, and has been a participant of the Harvard University Summer Institute on College Admissions.