Growing up in a blue-collar family in Brooklyn, Paul Kohn didn’t imagine a future in higher education, and the thought of living in Utah never crossed his mind.

His love of animals had him dreaming of a future as a veterinarian, and even though his parents and siblings never finished high school, they encouraged him to pursue that path.

Kohn’s vocational road since then has taken many twists and turns, all leading him to where he is now, starting his service as the University of Utah’s inaugural Senior Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment and Student Success.

In this position, Kohn’s areas of administrative responsibility include enrollment management, undergraduate studies, global engagement, University Connected Learning, the Utah Asia Campus and other regional campuses. He reports to Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mitzi M. Montoya.

Kohn brings to the U more than two decades of experience in higher education administration, specifically in enrollment management and student success, including serving in leadership roles at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona.

So how does a would-be veterinarian end up a college administrator? Kohn said his step onto that unexpected path started when he applied to one college coming out of high school—Cornell University—and fortunately was accepted.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in animal sciences from Cornell, but as he worked with animals and with veterinarians, he decided that was not the career he wanted to pursue. Instead, positive experiences as an undergraduate teaching assistant led him to become a high school science and biology teacher in New York City in the mid-1980s.

“I saw challenging environments, and it was a challenging place for new teachers to try and become career teachers,” Kohn said.

Struggles with an unsupportive assistant principal made him decide to return to college with the goal of becoming the kind of assistant principal he wished he had. He returned to Cornell, eventually earning a master’s in educational administration.

After spending years in Ithaca, N.Y.—one of the cloudiest spots in the United States—he decided, first, that it was time to move someplace warmer and sunnier, and second, to pursue a career in higher education instead of chasing an assistant principal job. He visited several cities in the American West and decided Tucson, Ariz., was the place for him.

“I knew I wanted to work at a university and work with students who were hungry for knowledge and growth,” Kohn said. “The University of Arizona was compelling. It had the right vibe for me.”

He earned his doctorate in educational psychology while in Tucson, and he enjoyed teaching and researching. But he also had opportunities to move into administration, including serving as Assistant Dean and Acting Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Kohn finished his time at Arizona as Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Admission, responsible for admissions, outreach, minority student recruitment, scholarships and financial aid, marketing and the Office of the Registrar.

Kohn discovered that he enjoyed the quantitative aspects of admissions and enrollment management.

“I really love the nature of the work and the size of the impact,” he said. “The work we do affects thousands of students. The scale of what we were doing, and the way that we could measure our success in numbers, had largely eluded me (as a professor).”

Kohn wasn’t looking to leave Arizona, but when a search firm called to ask if he would be interested in an opportunity at Georgia Tech, he was intrigued.

“Georgia wasn’t on anyone’s map when I was growing up in New York,” he said. “But I went and took a look, and I was very pleased with what I saw. The urban pulse reminded me of growing up in Brooklyn.

“It was a great opportunity at the right time, because Georgia Tech—like the University of Utah, in my opinion—was sitting at a major juncture where its trajectory could really take off.”

And that’s exactly what it did. During his 14 years as Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at Georgia Tech, Kohn led initiatives that resulted in a quintupling of applications, record-setting first-year and transfer class sizes and increasing nonresident enrollment to 40%. By increasing graduate enrollment as well, he helped Georgia Tech become the largest university in the state of Georgia.

Kohn was happy at Georgia Tech, but another step along his vocational road was waiting, and he found it when he heard about the role at the U.

“I hadn’t given much thought to Utah or Salt Lake City or this university, but as I’ve looked at it along the way, so much has resonated with me,” Kohn said. “There’s a lot of potential here to graduate more students in a timely fashion, and all the things we’d think of in terms of student retention and success.

“Utah’s numbers should and will be much more like its counterparts in the AAU (Association of American Universities) and its aspirational peers than it is today.”

In his newly created position at the U, Kohn has direct responsibility to integrate undergraduate, graduate, professional and online education enrollment and student success strategies across the university. He is charged with exploring traditional and online program opportunities for new revenue, including national and international markets, and developing a strategic direction that fully incorporates the principles of net tuition revenue.

He said he thinks “the potential is limitless” at the U, and he is already enjoying the environment of the campus and of Salt Lake City. While he and his wife, Wendy, will need some time to adjust to the cold winters, they’re excited to participate in hiking, biking and other outdoor activities Utah has to offer. They also love to travel and look forward to exploring the state and other parts of the world.

And while Kohn didn’t become a veterinarian, his love of animals is still a huge part of his life and something that appears to fit well with his new home. He and Wendy have two dogs, a cat and an African grey parrot, which became somewhat famous at Georgia Tech during the pandemic when it would often perch on his shoulder during video calls.

“I’m looking forward to meeting all the people I’m going to be working with,” Kohn said. “I’ve already met so many folks who are cheerleaders for Salt Lake City and for the university.”

He’s also enthusiastic about continuing his path in higher education here at the U and playing a key role in improving student success.

“Every fall, a new group of people arrives on campus who are optimistic and hopeful,” Kohn said. “It’s a great environment to be in, because anything’s possible. The world awaits them. It’s great to be in that ecosystem.”