Rachelle Feldman named vice provost for enrollment

Dear Carolina Community,

We are pleased to share that Rachelle Feldman has been named vice provost for enrollment after a competitive, national search. Rachelle has served as the interim vice provost since November 2020 and will begin this role on Jan. 1, 2022. During her tenure, Rachelle has developed and implemented significant policy and process improvements in Carolina’s financial aid and enrollment operations that have improved efficiency and better serve our students.

Notably, in the past year, Rachelle led the recruitment of Carolina’s largest and one of the most diverse undergraduate classes in history. A champion of student success, Rachelle has helped raise the graduation rates of Carolina Covenant students to within a few percentage points of Carolina’s overall graduation rate.

With a background in finance, she implemented new strategies for calculating the cost of attendance and student needs, enabling the University to reduce the financial aid required for need-based funds by more than $15 million annually, while still meeting the full demonstrated need of students. Working closely with the Finance and Operations team, she helped develop a long-term plan for financial aid sustainability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachelle ensured students were financially able to continue their studies, strategically allocating more than $45 million in federal and institutional funds for emergency expenditures, housing and internet stipends, and funds to allow graduate students to complete their research and degrees.

Rachelle came to Carolina in 2016 as the associate provost and director in the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. In that role, she expanded access and affordability by creating the Blue Sky Scholars initiative to serve middle-income North Carolinians, among other key initiatives.

Prior to Carolina, she served in similar roles at the University of California, Berkeley, most recently as assistant vice chancellor and director for financial aid and scholarships. There, she helped lead a 10% increase in the yield of top meritorious students over four years and fostered an increase in the yield of minority students from under 33% to 53% in a five-year period.

Rachelle holds a Master of Science in economics from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and dramatic art dance from the University of California, Berkeley.

We wish to thank search committee co-chairs David Routh, vice chancellor for University Development, and Meg Zomorodi, assistant provost for interprofessional education and practice and professor in the School of Nursing, and all committee members for their time in identifying and interviewing candidates.

We are fortunate to have Rachelle continue as a valued member of our leadership team. She has made indelible contributions to Carolina’s commitment to access, affordability and student success, and we look forward to working with her in this new role.

Sincerely,

Kevin M. Guskiewicz
Chancellor

Robert A. Blouin
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost