Two long-time Catawba College employees in the Admissions area, Elaine Holden and Steffanie West, will assume new responsibilities August 1 when Cindy Barr, the current Vice President of Enrollment, departs the college. Their promotions come with Cindy's strong endorsement and are announced by Catawba's President Brien Lewis.
Elaine Holden, currently Catawba's Director of Admissions, will become Vice President of Enrollment, responsible for Admissions and Financial Aid in the Enrollment area. Steffanie West, currently Associate Director of Admissions Operations, will become Director of Admissions. Both have worked closely with Cindy to advance and strengthen Catawba's enrollment and are committed to continuing to execute strategies now in place.
Elaine Holden
A Pittsburgh, Pa. native, Elaine joined the staff at Catawba in 1988, serving in the Admissions Office for nine years and then for an additional year in the Alumni and Development Office. In Development, her task was Small Business Development Relations and Alumni/Admissions connections. She was a 1995 graduate of Leadership Rowan.
Elaine left Catawba for over a decade during which time she substitute taught for the Rowan Salisbury School System, focused on raising her family, and worked with several community-based organizations focused on youth related initiatives, including Community in Schools and Food for Thought.
She returned to Catawba in 2011 as Director of Admissions. She is active in NCICU, as well as state, regional and national associations for Admissions Officers, Registrars and College Counselors. She has served on Catawba's SAC-COC Quality Enhancement Plan committee which implemented the Catawba to Career (C2C) Center and is currently involved in the John N. Gardner Institute's retention strategic planning as well as the values proposition strategic planning initiatives for the College. She, working closely with Cindy, Steffanie and Catawba's I.T. Department, has been an integral part of Catawba's implementation of the Common Application for the fall 2018 entering class.
Active in her church, St. John's Lutheran, she also continues her involvement in community-based organizations focused on youth by volunteering in several capacities with the Rowan County Crosby Scholars program and Community in Schools mentoring.
Elaine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication with a marketing concentration from Bowling Green State University (BGSU). While an undergrad, she interned with the Walt Disney Company and BGSU's Undergraduate Admissions offices. She is currently in the process of completing a Master of Arts in Higher Education Leadership from Lenoir-Rhyne University and anticipates a May 2018 graduation.
Married to husband Tyler, the two are parents of Shelby, a 2016 graduate of Salisbury High School who is a student at UNCW, and David, a junior at Salisbury High School.
Steffanie West
Steffanie West, will make the transition from her role as Associate Director of Admissions Operations to Director of Admissions, replacing Elaine Holden. In addition to her continued work overseeing Admissions Operations, she will soon oversee the full Admissions staff and coordinate recruitment efforts for the day program.
Steffanie began working for Catawba in January of 2011 immediately following her graduation with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from the College. She has held multiple roles on the Admissions staff, including Admissions Counselor, Event Coordinator, as well as extensive work within the Operations Department of Admissions that has included reporting Admissions data for the campus and a heavy involvement in the implementation of the Admissions CRM (customer relation management) software.
Committed to her alma mater, Steffanie has begun her second term as chair of Catawba's Staff Council, and served between August 2012 and May 2017 as advisor to Catawba's Student Government Association.
She is married to husband Eric West, also a Catawba alumnus who works as an Instructor of Physical Education at North Hills Christian School. Together, they are active in their church, leading Bible studies for post-college singles and volunteering with the church's college ministry.
