In May of 2014, Schlientz was brought on as the college’s new vice president of marketing.
Matt Schlientz works from a laptop in a nearly empty office on the third floor of Moss Hall. No one would guess from the look of things that Schlientz holds a position so important to the college that he is part of President Larry Arnn’s senior staff.
Despite his office’s minimalist appearance, Schlientz’ work reaches every building and person on campus, Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said.
“[The online classes], for example, raise the way people look at the undergraduates and the graduate program,” Péwé said. “So when you get a degree, your degree means even more than it did 10 or 15 years ago. Marketing does that.”
Chris Bachelder served as the vice president of marketing for several years, but he stepped down after his daughter, Kate Bachelder `13, graduated. Schlientz came to Hillsdale from the University of Michigan and replaced Bachelder. Those who hired him are grateful for his nearly four years’ experience as Michigan’s director of marketing, where he supervised about 40 people.
“Even [Michigan’s] brand -— that block M that you see everywhere — that transition at Michigan where they went from all kinds of different logos to this one brand, that had an impact,” Péwé said. “Michigan had quite a bit of applications this year, while Harvard and others were down. So whatever he was doing was pretty good.”
Before working at Michigan Schlientz owned and operated a marketing firm in Holland, Michigan, for 13 years. In 2001, when Arnn came to Hillsdale, the college hired Schlientz and his firm to do some work on Imprimis and revising the logo and admissions materials. Schlientz was aware of the school before then and identified with its philosophy of education. So, when Bachelder announced that he was ready to move on, Arnn called Schlientz. He hasn’t looked back since.
“I wanted to make the leap of faith and come here and contribute to the mission of the college and everything that it represents,” Schlientz said.
And he’s been hard at work to make the kind of contribution only marketing can, conducting a major brand study to get a sense of who’s thinking about Hillsdale, what they think of the college, and if those things align with Hillsdale’s true identity.
Schlientz is partnering with other staff, like new Associate Vice President of Admissions Doug Banbury, to redo all the admissions materials from the ground up. External affairs’ web content manager, Kokko Tso `13, will be working with an agency next year to redesign the college’s website. Schlientz also oversees the work of recent graduates Hannah Strickland `14, and Jacob Mueller `13, in an effort to boost the college’s presence on social media.
“We’re also going to talk to prospective students, current students, focus groups, online surveys, and conduct one-on-one interviews,” Schlientz said, explaining the process of the brand study.
Schlientz has already done a lot of observing since coming to campus and he has come to an even greater appreciation of the college than he had at the start.
“I’m humbled by the service that people pour into this place and into the mission and the cause that Hillsdale College represents,” Schlientz said. “Our job in marketing is to live up to the sense of responsibility we feel coming here and to deliver on the history of the college, and hopefully, make the students, faculty, and staff proud of what they see.”
Director of Marketing and External Affairs Bill Gray said he’s thrilled to have Schlientz at Hillsdale, considering how much marketing they will be doing in the years ahead.
“Hillsdale does so much marketing, and it’s going to be doing more,” Gray said. “To have someone with that broad array of skills — it’s just great that he’s here.”