Reflections

A Tale of Two Oxys

Bill Tingley took charge of Occidental's admission program in 1997 -- a fallow time in its history. He retires with applications in full bloom

By Samantha B. Bonar '90
Photo by Marc Campos

As a lad of 8, Bill Tingley was sitting in the stands in Fresno to witness Occidental's come-from-behind 21-20 victory over Colorado A&M in the Raisin Bowl. Among Tigers fans, the game remains one for the ages -- though Tingley says he was more interested in the filming of the Donald O'Connor movie Yes Sir, That's My Baby on the sidelines than in the action on the field.

When Tingley announced his retirement this fall as vice president of admission and financial aid -- after 12 years at Occidental and a 43-year career in college administration -- he closed the books on another remarkable era in Oxy history. Not only did Tingley turn around an admission program that was on life support, he oversaw an unprecedented period of growth that raised the College's admission standards to a level unseen since the 1940s.

"I've always felt that I would want to retire on a high note, at the top of our game," says Tingley, who previously served as associate dean of admission at Stanford, director of admission at Whitman College, director of financial aid at UC Santa Cruz, and vice president for admission and financial aid at Pitzer College. Last year, Occidental admitted the largest freshman class in the College's history: "What started off as perhaps our most challenging year [due to the recession] ended up being our finest hour."

Tingley took an interest in college administration while an undergraduate at UC Davis, where he was mentored by an admissions officer who gave him his first job after he returned from the Vietnam War, at UC Santa Cruz. When he came to Eagle Rock in 1997, Oxy was in crisis. The previous year, applications had dipped so low (down 30 percent in a five-year period) that the College admitted 77 percent of applicants.

"I had followed Occidental all my career, so I had tremendous respect for the place, but I also saw that it was facing significant challenges," he says. "I felt this would be an opportunity for me to bring everything that I had learned in my other positions to bear on this situation-to try to help Occidental realize its full potential."

Besides filling key staff vacancies and moving the admission office from the lower floor of Coons to what is now Collins House, "We started to rebuild relations with high school counselors throughout the country, and right here in Southern California," Ting­ley says. Occidental had been through five admission directors in five years, "so we made a concerted effort to reach out to them."

He also worked hard to strengthen the financial aid program. "We wanted to make it very effective in fulfilling the mission of the College and also attracting high-caliber students," he says. In addition, he focused on improving the College visit experience for prospective students and their families -- "how they're treated from the moment they drive on campus, come to the admission office, go on tours, are interviewed, and so on." More recently, his department has focused on improving the "electronic visit experience," via Occidental's website.

"We've had a tremendous increase in the number of visitors to this campus. It's been very exciting -- over the last 12 years we've seen a 222 percent increase in applications, and therefore an increase in selectivity, and Oxy's academic profile has improved significantly. The fact that we've been able to maintain a strong commitment to diversity and improve academic quality is a real testimony to the strength of the College's mission."

In selecting Oxy students, "We're trying to shape a class that will include not only the brightest students in the pool, but those who will hopefully contribute something to the life of the College," Tingley adds. "That's an important part of our assessment -- looking for qualities in students that indicate that they're going to come here and have some kind of impact. I also think it's important to admit some students every year to Occidental whose excellence may simply be goodness, because I think it's crucial in a residential campus community to have some students who have a positive influence on the people around them."

"We've got a terrific staff here, and I feel confident that the College can continue to move forward in a very positive way," says Tingley, who plans to follow Occidental "with great interest in the coming months and years. I think as great as the last 12 years have been, Oxy's best years are still ahead."