All in the family

“When Taylor handed me the box of KU stuff, I was so surprised and thrilled. It made it even more special that Zack and other alumni were there, some of whom I didn’t even know. The word had gotten out.”

Miller, c’18, who joined the Association’s team last August, says the moment was “really sweet” and a high point in her first six months of working with KU Admissions to help personalize the recruitment of prospective Jayhawks from KU families. “I don’t say this lightly; it’s a joy to be a part of families’ college-decision journeys. I think it speaks volumes about the KU legacy and what it means to families that Taylor waited to tell her dad until they were here in Lawrence.’’

Miller is the third Jayhawk to lead the Association’s legacy recruitment efforts since the role originated in 2012 with Joy Larson Maxwell, c’03, j’03, who led recruitment until 2020, when her family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Former team member Danny Woods, j’13, took over the duties until last summer, when he accepted a new role in physician relations with the University of Kansas Health System. Since 2012, KU undergraduate enrollment of legacy students has grown from 15% to more than 25%, and prospects are bright for fall 2022. Association president Heath Peterson, d’04, g’09, says attracting students from Jayhawk families is critical to the long-term future of the KU community. “The Association wants to help recruit new Jayhawks from all backgrounds, whether they are first-generation college students, first-generation Jayhawks, or those who are continuing a KU family tradition,” he says, “but our data through the years demonstrate that legacy students are more likely to remain at KU and stay involved as alumni volunteers and donors throughout their lives, which is so important to the continued strength of KU.”

Recruitment of future Jayhawks in an increasingly competitive environment sparked the idea to construct the new Jayhawk Welcome Center (JWC) and renovate the Adams Alumni Center, as Kansas Alumni reported last spring (see “New Chapter,” issue No. 2, 2021). As the Association and KU prepare for the public opening of the building in early 2023, Miller is learning new event-planning software and working with the Association and Admissions teams to become the point person for recruitment events in the JWC, where all campus visits for prospective students and families will begin. Her duties are a natural extension of her close collaboration with Admissions colleagues, about 25 of whom will work in the new center. 

Miller, who came to KU from Wisconsin, can personally attest that the campus visit is the linchpin of recruitment; she felt the attraction when she accompanied her older sister on a visit: “The moment I set foot on campus, I said to my mom, ‘Even if Mia isn’t coming here, I am,’” she recalls. Mia, c’17, chose Mount Oread, and Annie followed a year later. Their younger brother, Jimmy, is now a sophomore on the Hill. “Our legacy isn’t generational yet, but it’s horizontal,” Miller says.