Laura Hoffman

Assistant Dean for Admissions, Financial Aid & Enrollment Management

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Bio

Laura Hoffman is the assistant dean for Admissions and Enrollment Management. She leads the Office of Admissions in their work in recruiting, admissions, and enrollment management for all departments of music, dance, theatre, and musical theatre. Her office is responsible for the School’s efforts in undergraduate and graduate recruiting, admissions, auditions/interviews, and orientation for students within the School.

Dean Hoffman has presented on admissions and recruitment at national conferences sponsored by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM); NAFSA: Association of International Educators; and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). She regularly serves on panel discussions dedicated to providing training and service to aspiring arts students and travels frequently to meet students and inspire them to consider the University of Michigan.

In national leadership, she is a former officer and past-chair of ICCAM, the Independent Consortium on College Admissions in Music, and remains active with this organization. As a consultant in performing arts admissions and enrollment management, she has shared her expertise with multiple institutions seeking to improve their enrollment and operations.

On the U-M campus, Dean Hoffman is the former chair of a University-wide admissions officer group, which seeks to share best practices and nurture collaboration across campus. She has recently served as the project and budget leadership enabling SMTD Admissions to convert to a new application/media platform. She has also been a leader in advancing integrated technology to enable strong partnerships for SMTD with campus offices such as the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Office of Financial Aid.

The first in her family to earn a degree, Dean Hoffman earned her bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and came to Ann Arbor as a graduate student in musicology. Following her graduate studies, she began working for the School and has advanced through the ranks of staff positions to her current leadership role. She attributes much of her success to early mentorship from Donald Sinta, Brent Wagner, Paul Boylan, and Lynne Aspnes.