By Robyn Dexter

In-depth Editor

The dean of the Honors College is helping Eastern figure out enrollment and recruiting methods by mapping the region with geographic information systems, better known as GIS.

John Stimac, the dean of the Honors College, is part of the Enrollment Worx group and is the chairman for the GIS Map Worx subcommittee.

He has been working in accordance with the group to plot out where Eastern applicants and students are from.

“GIS is a tool and we’re taking data that we already have and looking at it in a different light,” he said. “We’re able to look at the data more quickly than if we had to wade through all the numbers.”

Through the mapping system, Stimac is able to tell how many people apply to Eastern as opposed to how many actually enroll and where they come from.

“We can start to identify hotspots,” he said. “This includes schools, towns, counties and zip code regions that we have the most success in.”

The map analysis can also be used for advertising purposes.

Stimac said when districts have a decrease in students they send to Eastern, the maps can help plot what the next course of action is.

“The maps are a good tool to help us look at the data in much finer detail,” he said.

Stimac can assess what other schools in the area are the greatest competitors with his GIS maps and figure out what regions Eastern needs to target the most.

He said right now he is working to figure out where applicants to Eastern are from in the country.

His results have yielded numbers from across the country including the east coast.

Stimac works with a program called ArcMap, which he calls “the Microsoft Office of GIS” because it is the main program GIS users use.

“We want to know if we get students from rural areas over the urban areas and if so, why that is,” he said. “We’re a relatively small school, so those students might be more comfortable here.”

Stimac said one of the main elements of recruiting is targeting areas that Eastern does not get many students from and figuring out why that is.

“We can look at zip codes as well and even map out high school districts,” he said.

Stimac said his work is a continual process and will continue throughout the year as the Enrollment Worx group gives him data.

“We need to know where students are (from) in order to recruit them,” he said. “We can apply the data to the district and find the students with the highest GPA and ACT.”

By taking these factors into consideration, Stimac said he can assess Eastern’s recruiting policies for certain regions.

“We can really fine-tune our marketing,” he said.

Stimac said he got into GIS maps because he has a background in geology.

“There really is a beauty to a well-designed map,” he said. “A map is a way to present patterns in a way that an Excel spreadsheet can’t.”

Stimac said the GIS maps will have a direct impact on Eastern.

“The maps will make us more responsible with our dollars,” he said. “We can see where we need to redistribute our advertising and target areas where we know there are good students year after year.”

Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.