Client Snapshot: Pam Matheson, Greenfield Community College

Pam Matheson
Research Specialist
Greenfield Community College
Greenfield, Massachusetts

A data-driven regional report from EMSI has been instrumental in Greenfield Community College’s overhaul of its strategic enrollment management plan. The “Regional Scan and Program Demand” report gave Pam Matheson and her colleagues vital demographic and education data, as well as a look at northwest Massachusetts’ growing industries and occupations. Matheson says GCC is undergoing a dramatic shift to become more data-driven in its planning. One key step has been altering its student recruitment strategy to be responsive to demographic shifts. GCC is situated amid a large cluster of postsecondary institutions in the surrounding region, yet it’s the only college in Franklin County. That means Greenfield plays a crucial role in training dislocated workers in the sparsely-populated area. The college has reversed its declining enrollment, and now its applications have increased 33% with the worsening economy. “The data was very helpful,” says Matheson, who helped conduct a variety of internal and external scans to develop GCC’s strategy.