The Office of the Provost released this announcement Friday (Aug. 6):

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan is pleased to announce that Robert Penman has been appointed executive director for Undergraduate Outreach, Recruitment and Admissions, effective August 30, 2021. He will report to Deborah Agee, who began serving as interim associate vice chancellor for Enrollment Management on July 6.

Penman brings to his new role nearly two decades of experience in undergraduate admissions, most of that time at the University of California. Since 2018, he has served as associate director of undergraduate admissions at UC Berkeley, where he directed outreach and recruitment strategies and oversaw statewide, national, and international recruitment to meet campus enrollment and diversity goals. One of his key accomplishments at Berkeley was increasing freshman and transfer applications by 28.2 and 8.5 percent, respectively, while also significantly growing the number of applications from Chicanx/Latinx, African American, first-generation college going, rural, and international students. 

In his new role at UC Davis, he looks forward to supporting the university’s commitment to making a world-class education accessible to students of all backgrounds and to maintaining a diverse student body. 

Penman’s previous posts include director of admission for outreach and marketing, Samuel Merritt University (2015-18); coordinator of admissions events and communications, Undergraduate Admissions, University of California Office of the President (2013-15); and marketing and communications manager, Undergraduate Admissions, UC Riverside (2010-13). He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UC Riverside and an MBA in marketing from Cal State Fullerton.

“Higher education changed my life, and it has become my passion,” Penman said. “I find it incredibly rewarding to help higher education change other students’ lives, too. I am very excited to begin working with interim associate vice chancellor Agee and the entire UC Davis community in support of this goal.”

“Robert’s extensive experience in all aspects of university admissions, and his proven ability to increase opportunity for historically underrepresented students, will be invaluable to UC Davis,” said Provost Croughan. “We are very fortunate to have him join our community in this new role.”

Craig Buckwald is a writer and media advisor in the Office of the Provost.