About Wes K. Waggoner
As the vice provost for Enrollment Management, Wes Waggoner guides the University in achieving its strategic goals related to undergraduate academic quality, community and net tuition revenue. He also provides leadership for the Division of Enrollment Services in its support of student enrollment and success for both undergraduate and graduate students across the eight schools and colleges at SMU. Waggoner joined SMU as dean of admission in 2011 and was appointed to the role of associate vice president for Enrollment Management in 2015. The title of vice provost and chief enrollment officer, adopted in 2023, represents the expanding role of enrollment management across undergraduate and graduate programs to support the strategic goals of SMU.
Previously, Waggoner held admission roles at TCU, the University of Tulsa, Tulane university, as well as counseling roles at Fort Worth Country Day School and The Episcopal School in Baton Rouge. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Tulane University, an MBA with a concentration in not-for-profit management from the University of Dallas, and an Ed.D. in higher education from the Simmons School of Education and Human Development at SMU. His dissertation focused on understanding the relationship between institutional financial aid and student academic quality at private universities.
With Waggoner’s leadership, SMU continues to achieve record success in student enrollment and academic quality. His work reinforces SMU’s commitment both to academic excellence and inclusive excellence – enabling high-achieving students to benefit from the power of an SMU education regardless of their family’s financial resources.
A national leader in the admission and college counseling profession, Waggoner assists national and regional professional associations in their work to serve students and institutions to provide educational opportunity and attainment to students from all backgrounds. In the past, he has served as chair of the Professional Development Committee for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, chair of the Admission Practices Committee for the Texas Association for College Admission Counseling, chair of the Higher Education Curriculum committee for the Admission and College Counseling Institute, and as a member of The College Board’s Counseling and Admission Assembly Council as well as its SAT Advisory Committee. He is an active participant in College Board’s Access and Opportunity Collaborative and its Admission Research Consortium.
On numerous occasions, Waggoner has presented sessions highlighting ethics, enrollment marketing, strategic planning, technology, curricula, and, of course, college planning.