History
- 1968
At Princeton University Rick Hesel lays the groundwork for his future calling as a consultant.
Hide Rick becomes the first administrative intern at
- 1976
Rick Hesel manages study on which New York University bases its strategic marketing plan-the first ever in higher education.
Hide The plan is based on a comprehensive national survey of prospective students – the first of its kind used in enrollment planning. It becomes the model on which Hesel and his future colleagues further innovate and refine institutional positioning and recruitment marketing studies conducted for leading colleges and universities nationwide.
- 1983
Ben Edwards serves as part of a team whose efforts help elevate Duke University’s national and international stature.
Hide Mentored by highly successful leaders at a time when Duke’s standing was rising dramatically, Edwards spent seven years in a range of administrative roles, from campaign associate director to Assistant to the Dean of Arts & Sciences.
- 1985
David Strauss and his colleagues at Barton-Gillet introduce econometric modeling techniques to students’ enrollment decisions.
Hide Over the next several years, David and his team revolutionize the analysis of financial aid, providing institutions important data and information critical to planning and implementing effective financial aid policies and practices.
- 1991
Hesel, Edwards, and Strauss join forces as consultants at the Barton-Gillet Company, a marketing firm in higher education.
Hide One of their first new clients is
- 1993
On a late night in Cambridge, Edwards, Hesel, and Strauss begin planning the creation of Art & Science Group.
Hide - 1994
The following summer the firm is launched with offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Durham, North Carolina.
Hide The firm's first clients include Columbia Law School, Rutgers University, Duke University and Chautauqua Institution.
- 1995
Using a new analytical research method, Art & Science pioneers the first tuition pricing study in higher education for RPI.
Hide The Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute study is followed a year later by a pricing study for Bucknell. The study becomes the basis for development of a research methodology that sets new standards for measuring price elasticity.
The firm publishes the first issue of StudentPOLL on the influence of "US News and World Report" rankings in college choice.
HideStudentPOLL quickly becomes the authoritative national source for market insights and intelligence about the attitudes and opinions of college-bound high school students and their parents on critical issues.
- 1996
The firm is retained by Duke University Law School and Vermont Law School to conduct studies focused on recruitment marketing.
Hide Today Art & Science is the most experienced marketing consultant to law schools in the nation. Former and recent law school clients include:
- 1998
Art and Science develops robust research approaches to modeling the enrollment consequences of tuition price changes.
Hide Using these sophisticated research methods, Art & Science conducts institutional positioning, recruitment marketing, and pricing studies that measure the likely enrollment effects changes in tuition levels, market positioning, financial aid practices and policies would have on selectivity, applications, and matriculation. Clients find the predictive effect of these studies remarkably accurate.
- 1999
A&S is retained by the Keck Graduate Institute, an institution offering a degree bridging the fields of science and management
Hide Art & Science conducts a market positioning and recruitment study to explore prospective student interest in hybrid science/management graduate degrees and the appeal of the degree to prospective students and to biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms.
The firms recommends Keck brand a new degree program, the Master’s in Applied Biosciences – an MBS – and emphasize its intention to provide students with critical science and management training for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
- 2000
The firm publishes a Special Edition of StudentPOLL in collaboration with the American Council on Education.
Hide The findings in StudentPOLL report the interest of college-bound high school students in study abroad and other international dimensions of learning. The study produces a landmark finding: While nearly half of college-bound students intend to participate in study abroad experiences in college, only a fraction actually do so.
- 2003
Mills College retains Art & Science for an institutional branding, pricing, and recruitment marketing study.
Hide In only two years' time, Mills experiences double-digit enrollment increases. The growing list of women’s colleges assisted by the firm now includes: Smith,
A New Yorker cartoonist and Art & Science Group team up to produce a series of humorous promotional postcards.
HideThe postcards are intended to humorously illuminate the way misguided leaders might approach institutional branding, financial aid, pricing, and advancement challenges while emphasizing the rigorous methods and approach Art & Science brings to these issues.
On behalf of Drexel University the firm conducts a study to explore the peer assessment component of the US News & World Report rankings
HideThe study focuses on understanding how institutional leaders make judgments about the reputation and quality of other colleges and universities they are asked to rate. Among the study’s interesting findings: Nearly 2 in 5 respondents did not even recall receiving the US News & World Report peer assessment evaluation forms, and only one-quarter of those surveyed said they read the mailings from other institutions meant to influence their peer assessment ratings.
- 2004
The firm conducts a major research study for the Association of Boarding Schools.
Hide The study interviews more than 2,700 high school students and adults at different points in their lives about their experiences in school and their lives since. The findings of the study conclusively dispel many of the prevailing myths the public has about boarding schools and the students who attend them.
Art & Science Group’s pricing study for Virginia Tech becomes a valuable resource in the formulation of the charter initiative in Virginia.
HideThe initiative, led by the legislature and governor, becomes the basis for the substantial deregulation of public education in the state – serving as a model for the rest of the country.
- 2007
The College Board and Art & Science Group establish a formal collaboration.
Hide Through this partnership, the firm and the College Board plan to conduct national research on prospective college students and jointly publish the results online in StudentPOLL. The first issue on "helicopter parents" reports that many students actually want their parents more involved in the college search process.
Art & Science conducts a study for World Learning, further strengthening the firm’s expertise in international learning.
HideWorld Learning, an international organization that operates an accredited graduate school, college and high school study abroad programs around the globe, as well as international development programs and initiatives, retains the firm to develop a brand and market position that captures the organization’s distinctions and appeals to the diverse audiences it serves. In the wake of this study, Art & Science is also retained to prepare a case statement for the organization’s upcoming capital campaign.
The firm establishes a formal partnership with iStrategy Solutions focused on improving the reporting capabilities of systems.
HideThe firm’s analytics and reporting software promise to afford higher education decision makers a set of user-friendly, desktop solutions – providing them instant access and analysis of key data in admissions, financial aid, retention, alumni relations, and annual giving.
Art & Science Group conducts a feasibility study to explore the implications of increases in undergraduate enrollment on Wake Forest.
HideSince it moved to Winston-Salem in 1956, Wake Forest University had steadily grown into a highly competitive liberal arts university with a strong research orientation. Faced with the need to keep pace with the growing knowledge base, the University retained Art & Science Group to analyze the costs and benefits of expanding enrollment. The firm conducted concurrent institutional and market analyses focused on assessing the capacity of Wake Forest’s personnel and infrastructure to serve current and prospective students and the University’s ability to increase its undergraduate enrollment without lowering its standards for admission.
