Minot State University Dean of Admissions Kevin Harmon knows exactly what he's up against every time he watches his oldest child open the mailbox and paw through the day's collection of envelopes from colleges and universities vying to admit the high school senior into next year's freshmen class.

"Some of them aren't even opened," said Harmon, especially the letters that come in thick, white envelopes.

It's Harmon's job to make sure that Minot State University gets more kids and their parents to open those white envelopes and become interested in enrolling at MSU.

Compared with the letters, postcards, e-mails and other communication his daughter has received from prospective colleges, Harmon isn't sure MSU is quite up to speed yet, but he thinks it is well on its way.

The university has done a number of things to step up recruiting efforts in the past few years that are making a difference.

When it comes to the battle of the mailbox, MSU has developed a targeted plan aimed at getting 19 mailings to high school students during their junior and senior years. One such mailer is a postcard with a picture of a teenager on the front and large print advertising scholarships available to students with a 3.0 GPA. It's an attention-grabbing graphic specifically targeted to people in their late teens, according to the marketing firm MSU hired to develop the campaign, and it's in a format designed to make prospective college students intrigued enough to turn the card over and see more about the program. There's no need for a student to rip into an envelope.

In fact, Harmon said the research shows that the stuffed envelopes are of more benefit to the students' parents, who are used to the more traditional forms of communication, than to the students themselves.

To attract the students, MSU recruiters have been learning how to make use of new media, such as social networking sites Facebook and MySpace as well as old; to scout out new areas of the country, and to work on developing relationships.

That's what Harmon's wife, Leisa Harmon, an associate professor of communication disorders at Minot State, was doing at Minot High School-Magic City Campus on Wednesday during one of the university's regular outreach visits to the high school.

Leisa Harmon said professors from other departments as well as from other offices also sit at the MSU table in Magic City Campus's cafeteria at the height of the noon hour or are available for a few hours in the space set aside for them.

The regular outreach visits give students a chance to look at admissions materials, ask questions about particular programs, or the process of applying for programs or funding assistance.

On Wednesday, Magic City Campus senior Mackenzie Nagel was chatting with Leisa Harmon about the speech pathology program, which Nagel is interested in enrolling in next year.

Nagel, like the Harmons' daughter, is also being bombarded with communications from other universities, but she said she's probably going to Minot State because it has such an excellent speech pathology program.

Nagel said she appreciates having MSU representatives visit the school as part of the outreach program.

"It's much more than recruiting, it's forming partnerships," Kevin Harmon said of the university's recruiting strategy.

In addition to sending out the targeted mailings, Minot State also makes contact with area high schools to ask how they can be of assistance to students. They make "Hometown Hero" scholarship presentations to academically gifted students in the area high schools who qualify, complete with visits to the school. They make a point of bringing high school students to campus for what Kevin Harmon calls "meaningful on-campus experiences." That includes "The Business Bash," held for the first time this fall, where high school students worked on business problems and had a chance to meet with one of the winners of "The Apprentice" TV show and get his input on their work. Later in the fall MSU professors were among presenters at a financial education seminar put on for teens by Northwest Credit Union. Prospective MSU students attended a "Lock-In" earlier this month for teens that included a sleep-over on campus, a flashlight tour of the campus and a scavenger hunt, and talks with faculty.

Kevin Harmon doesn't want the event to be "gimicky." A former school administrator himself, he knows that time is valuable and that high school students and teachers are interested in substance when they make a campus visit.

Faculty and staff are also making note of the communication preferences of the teenagers and 20-somethings who make up a large part of Minot State's student pool. Rick Heit has been hired as a social networking specialist for Minot State, which involves managing the 1,000-some pages on MSU's own Web site and maintaining a presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space or Twitter.

Teresa Loftesnes, marketing director, said people from her office regularly take video footage and pictures of students at different events around campus and post them in photo albums on FaceBook. Students like looking for themselves and their friends in the photos and occasionally e-mail the staff asking them to "tag" them on Facebook. Having a presence on Facebook enables the university to advertise upcoming events, such as the NOTSTOCK! art festival held on campus earlier this month. Prospective college students can access the page to learn more about life on campus and to ask students or professors about different programs. Some students have made use of Facebook to look for a compatible roommate. Housing office personnel have made use of Twitter.

Loftesnes said the photos get a number of "hits," proving their popularity.

Mark Lyman, director of public information at the university, said the 16-24-year-old age group is the fastest rising demographic on Facebook, so it's important for Minot State University to have a presence on those social networking sites.

The university's major focus is still Minot and surrounding northwest North Dakota, but in recent years Minot State has also focused recruiting efforts on surrounding states and other regions. Last year the university hired two recruiters, one based in Washington state and one in Canada, to work with high schools in those regions. Other staff have been sent to large recruiting fairs elsewhere in the country where htey have a chance to make contact with thousands of students at one event. MSU alumni with a bit of training have also been tapped to attend recruiting fairs in far-flung states such as New York that are outside MSU's normal recruiting area. Harmon said it's an experiment that requires minimum investment of time and dollars, but could pay off by getting the word out about Minot State and letting people ask questions of someone who is familiar with the university.

Harmon said MSU has focused mainly on northern states, operating under the assumption that people from colder regions would not be intimidated by stories about the dreadful North Dakota winters. However, the economic downturn and crowding at colleges in other states means more students from warmer regions might be interested in attending North Dakota colleges. Recruiting efforts will help get the word out to those students.

Harmon said Minot State has also been "much more assertive" of late in making contacts with community and tribal colleges and attending community college fairs to provide more information about how to transfer their credits to Minot State University.

Kevin Harmon said the university is finding that using a combination of communication methods is the best way to reach the most students.

"Every student has a certain way they like to be courted," said Harmon, who said it's important to "be out there in person, providing meaningful contact."

By year's end, he thinks MSU will be very competitive with the colleges that are filling his daughter's mailbox with material.