Dr. Lisa Johnson, the newly appointed Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management, strives to increase the incoming student rate at University of Massachusetts Boston.
“She will provide critical leadership in meeting our strategic enrollment goals and in helping to attract and retain a talented and eager student body, in keeping with the university’s anticipated long-term growth,” wrote Chancellor J. Keith Motley in an email to the university community.
Johnson started to work at UMass Boston in 2004, when she served as associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Marketing until her appointment as interim Vice Chancellor in March 2014.
Under her tenure as interim Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management, the rate of new students coming to UMass Boston has increased by a record number. In 2013, she contributed in helping a 39% gain in total enrollment through 2013, with a 150% increase in freshman enrollment, and a 44% gain in transfer enrollments.
In the same email issued by Chancellor Motley regarding Johnson’s appointment, he details that: Her oversight and direction resulted in the expansion of the university’s annual Open House and Welcome Days, growth in recruitment efforts to include social media, and the inclusion of parents and families in new student orientation.
Prior to accepting Vice Chancellorship at UMass Boston, Johnson served as the Assistant Dean of Arts & Sciences, where she helped improve the student life on campus by creating a Dean’s Student Advisory Council, handling academic affairs, and developing initiatives to “enhance the support and services offered to students and faculty on campus.”
Four years later she was promoted as Assistant Vice Chancellor. During this period she helped UMass Lowell to make impeccable advancements. Those achievements included but are not limited to: a 40% increase in acceptance yield rate, the average SAT score for new coming students going up 50 points, and a growth from 12% to 52% in number of freshman with GPA’s 3.0 or higher.
Four years later she was promoted as Assistant Vice Chancellor, during which she helped UMass Lowell to make impeccable advancements. Those achievements are including, but not limited to, a 40% increase in acceptance yield rate, the average SAT score for new coming students went up 50 points, and from 12% to 52% grew the number of freshman with GPA’s 3.0 or higher.
Johnson was educated at Harvard University, where she completed the Management Development Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Higher Education. Prior to that, she earned her MS in college student personnel services at Miami University in Ohio, and her PhD in college and university administration at Michigan State University.  
Johnson was the first generation in her family to ever make it into higher education and thus believes that education, “is the greatest gift given to anyone.” She is a strong proponent of that idea and that positive reinforcement is the key to getting people to accept that gift.