Vision in Action.

Vision in Action.

Vision in Action. Vision in Action.

These selected accomplishments represent milestones in Miguel’s leadership and advisory work—advancing institutional stability, enrollment recovery, financial sustainability, and organizational trust. Together, they reflect a consistent approach: pairing strategic rigor with moral clarity to produce results that endure.

Internationalization

  • Fulbright-Nehru International Administrators Program (2016): A two-week intensive program focused on exploring the complexities of the Indian higher education system.

  • Comprehensive Strategic Internationalization: Conceptualized and executed a university-wide global strategy in partnership with enrollment, student affairs, and advancement. This initiative expanded faculty-led programming and established comprehensive exchange networks with Nelson Mandela University (South Africa), ULACIT (Costa Rica), and Taylor’s University (Malaysia).

  • Global Arts Leadership: Spearheaded "Otterbein and the Arts: Opening the Door to the World," a three-year initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and private donors to integrate international cultural exchange into the academic curriculum.

  • Brazilian Collaborative Research: Established a formal partnership with the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) to align the Central Ohio English Learners’ Education Collaborative with Brazil's Language and Cultural Center. This collaboration facilitates student, faculty, and teacher exchanges in coordination with Columbus City Schools.

  • Federal Grant Acquisition: Secured the 100,000 Strong in the Americas federal grant through a strategic partnership with UNIVA in Guadalajara, Mexico, fostering increased academic mobility across North America.

  • Global Exchange Expansion: Negotiated and implemented new bilateral exchange agreements with premier institutions in Germany, Ireland, Brazil, and Costa Rica, while achieving record-breaking enrollment for new international undergraduate and graduate students.

Enrollment, Retention and Student Success

  • Comprehensive Enrollment Transformation: Overhauled recruitment strategies and financial aid/scholarship models, reversing a 13% decline to achieve consistent growth. This strategy tripled graduate student enrollment and set new records for international student populations.

    • Year-over-Year New Student Growth: 436 (2017) → 561 (2018) → 650 (2019) → 742 (2020) → 580 (2022 recovery).

  • Strategic Planning Leadership: Led the development of the SFC Forward strategic plan, establishing institutional priorities for long-term academic and fiscal sustainability.

  • Data-Driven Retention Initiatives: Spearheaded a multi-campus data analytics project utilizing predictive modeling to identify factors influencing first-to-second-year retention. This research-based initiative was published and presented to advance institutional knowledge on student persistence.

  • Advising Redesign: Directed a comprehensive overhaul of the advising model for incoming first-year and transfer students to streamline the transition into higher education and improve degree completion rates.

  • Student Equity and Access: Collaborated with the Director of Multicultural Services to secure two major grant applications focused on expanding support systems for first-generation college students and those from low-income backgrounds.