Thomas W. Speakman, Ed.D, a veteran higher-education enrollment-management professional, has joined Delaware Valley University as executive director of admission.
Speakman brings more than 20 years of successful admission and enrollment experience to DelVal, most recently at Old Dominion University, where he served as director of undergraduate admissions. He has also held admission and scholarship-awarding positions at Central Michigan University, Shippensburg University and Penn State Berks.
“With his experience, Tom is prepared to bring a comprehensive and targeted approach to the admissions and recruitment operations,” said Dwayne L. Walker, DelVal’s vice president for enrollment management. “The recruitment outreach and relationship-building skills that Tom has will be valuable in our efforts with prospective students, families, school counselors and the entire campus community.”
Speakman said that he was excited to come on board and lead DelVal’s talented recruitment team.
“DelVal’s location in historic Doylestown, along with the outstanding undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including the Experience360 curriculum, attracted me to this opportunity,” he said. “The multitude of campus activities and the nationally-ranked athletic programs are additional attributes our admission team will continue to leverage in the recruitment process.”
Experience360, DelVal’s required experiential learning program, prepares students to problem solve, integrating classroom knowledge with practical applications. Through E360, every student gains real-world experiences that are tailored to their major and future career goals.
The program has helped boost the University’s career outcome rates to all-time highs, with 93.2 percent of the most recent class surveyed – the class of 2018 – reporting being employed, in graduate or professional school, engaged in service, or serving in the military within a year of graduating.
E360 was recently named the 2019 Outstanding Experiential Education Program by the National Society for Experiential Education, which awards the honor in recognition of “an outstanding institution that has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to experiential education.”
A native of Newtown, Speakman earned his doctorate in education from Widener University in 2004. He also holds a master’s of education from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University. Speakman began his tenure at DelVal on July 15.
