WC’s Dattagupta Honored by Alma Mater for Success in “Art and Science” of Enrollment

Satyajit Dattagupta, the vice president for enrollment management at Washington College

Satyajit Dattagupta, the vice president for enrollment management at Washington College, has received the “Graduate of the Last Decade,” Award from his alma mater, Southwestern Minnesota State University. Dattagupta was recognized October 10 at a special luncheon during Homecoming at the University.

The Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award is presented to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself in the decade since graduating. Dattagupta received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from SMSU in 2004, and earned his MBA there in 2007.

The award recognizes Dattagupta’s accomplishments in the area of higher-education admissions, a field that has fascinated him since his undergraduate days working for the SMSU Web site. “I was working with the Web office and I had all these great opportunities,” he says. “One was building an enrollment management system for the Office of Admission. I got intrigued by that; I wanted to have a career in that field.”

Before coming to Washington College in summer of 2013, Dattagupta held the positions of Associate Director of Admission and Coordinator of Technology at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. and Executive Director of the Office of College Enrollment at University of Rochester (N.Y.). His background in computer science and his ability to find meaning in mountains of data have been integral to his work in enrollment management, which he describes as a marriage of art and science. “You need to take the data and make information,” he says. At Washington College, he moved quickly to bring the production of all admissions marketing materials in-house, spearheaded the creation of a new Visitors Center in the Casey Academic Center, and led his department to meet its recruiting goals for the Class of 2018 despite a challenging environment nationwide.

Dattagupta, a native of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, says he is humbled by the GOLD Award from his alma mater. “SMSU did so much for me,” he said. “It was the start of so much for me.” Dattagupta’s wife, Priyanka Sharma, is a 2008 graduate of SMSU. The couple lives in Chestertown.