Dal Holmes
Retired
Formerly Washington College
How long were you in your most recent admissions
position at WAC? How long have you been in admissions/college counseling?
Before retiring in 2001, I worked as Associate
Director of Admissions under Kevin
Coveney’s direction at Washington College for eighteen years. In all, I served
five institutions for a total of thirty-six years in the profession, all at the college/university level.
How did you get started in college
counseling/admissions?
For me it started with projects as a volunteer alumni
representative in the Washington, DC area, on behalf of my alma mater,
Haverford College. My early mentors were Dean Archibald MacIntosh, a key member
of the small group which was instrumental
in the early years of Educational Testing Service; his Associate at Haverford,
Bill Ambler; and George Washington U. Admissions Director Joe Ruth, who
provided my first full-time employment in the field.
What's your favorite admissions/counseling memory?
We all enjoy talking about others we have mentored,
who in turn established their own careers in college admissions, and I could name
several. However, there are at least three other memorable experiences I could
share.
There was my 1965 road-running rookie first school
visit (for GWU) at newly opened Sandia H.S. on the east side of
Albuquerque, NM.The first question asked by their new guidance staff was about
GW’s marching band, about which I
also knew next to nothing. I did the best I could until I realized that I had
not taken another breath for close to a
minute. That moment erased forever any
fear that I might have had about speaking to a group of either colleagues or
strangers.
I also remember vividly an NACAC annual conference in
Chicago during the civil rights struggles of the 1960‘s. Local guidance counselor Silas Purnell and
others forced issues of access to higher education for under-represented
student populations into the forefront of NACAC’s agenda and collective thinking. It was a disruptive, tumultuous and ultimately
productive few days, with demonstrations by
many groups directed toward other sources of political influence throughout the
Windy City.
But my favorite experience was working in 1990 to
enroll Washington College’s first student from Romania, a gifted young man who became
active in campus life, went on to graduate study in Geneva, employment in
London, and who has since traveled throughout much of five continents. More
important, he has become like an additional member of my family -- a nephew or
cousin, if you will.
What advice would you give to someone looking to
pursue leadership in PCACAC and/or NACAC?
Build professional relationships and friendships with
colleagues on both sides of the admissions desk, who work with students on the school-to-college
transition. Include those focused on transfer students, international
candidates and financial assistance. Don’t avoid
opportunities to involve yourself in special projects or to serve on
professional committees whenever they present themselves, even when dealing
with a first-timers travel schedule and the long winter nights reading
applications. Learning what’s happening on a macro level is an important part
of career-building.
Bill Ambler’s invaluable advice to me along the way included
this. Every few years step back, take some time to yourself and evaluate whether
you are pleased with the balance between your employment obligations on the one
hand, and your responsibility to keep students’best interests at the center of
what you are doing.
If not working in admissions/college counseling, what
else could you see yourself pursuing?
Working as a sports broadcaster has always been near
the top of my list. Ice hockey,
basketball and professional futbol (soccer for those who still don’t know) are
my favorites. As a young college grad I worked
for two years as General Editor in the NCAA’s New York publications office,
followed the New York Rangers, attended many events at the old Madison Square
Garden, and watched international futbol at the Polo Grounds after the baseball
Giants moved to California. I love listening to the Brits who broadcast
the English Premier League matches.
What's one thing that most people don't know about
you?
Music has always been important in my life: at
seventy-eight I am still singing
second tenor in two choruses. Rock and opera are not my thing, but most other
genres including classical orchestral, jazz and sacred music are among my interests. And I still think from
time to time that I would like to learn to play classical pipe organ, as one of
my cousins did.
What's a current trend or future issue you're
passionate about right now? And why?
In our fast-paced environment it can be very easy to
lose sight of the C-word in our organization’s name: i.e., individual counseling.
My hope is that, when it comes to forming a professional staff on the Admissions
side of the desk, organizational leaders will continue to make every effort to
achieve a proper balance. We must always place the best interests of students
at the center of what we do (the counseling
function), while employing the best models for putting forward our
institutions’ missions (marketing). And we must guard against allowing the mass
communication (technology of the information age) to break down the personal
dimension of our interactions with the individual students we hope to serve. We must provide continuing cross-training in each of
these -- counseling, marketing and information technology.
*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***
