BRADFORD, Pa. – When Alex Nazemetz of Allegany, N.Y., began working in college admissions in 1986, there were few websites and no search engines.

Forty years later, as associate vice president of enrollment management and director of admissions at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, he still likes to have his staff “pound the pavement,” visiting college fairs and high schools in person to create a more personal connection.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t taken advantage of technology to communicate more easily with prospective students, but his heart has always been in talking face-to-face with young people and their families.

It’s a philosophy that has guided 26 years of service — and it’s one he’ll carry into retirement on Friday. Nazemetz came to Pitt-Bradford as director of admissions in 1999 after 13 years at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University. Pitt-Bradford is measurably better for his tenure.

“Alex has shaped the admissions experience for thousands of students and played a central role in building enrollments at the institution we know today,” said Dr. James Baldwin, vice president of enrollment services. “His efforts, approaches and generosity have left a lasting mark on this institution, and his impact will be felt after he’s gone.”

Dr. K. James Evans, retired dean of students, was Nazemetz’s first supervisor at Pitt-Bradford. “He brought so much experience and a sense of excitement,” he said. “Alex has done a fantastic job for us.”

Nazemetz’s admissions philosophy comes down to old-fashioned customer service. “You have to treat every single applicant as if they are the only applicant you’ll have,” he said, a philosophy in keeping with the personal experience Pitt-Bradford prides itself on. Each fall, he personally picks up international students at the Bradford Regional Airport. “I go a little out of my way to make them feel at home,” he said.

Under his leadership, Pitt-Bradford doubled the size of its incoming freshman classes and became the most diverse campus in the University of Pittsburgh system. Those achievements have been made despite challenges: regional population decline, the COVID-19 pandemic, tightened high school security limiting counselor access, and guidance counselors increasingly focused on student mental health rather than college planning. To ease high school students’ college anxiety, he introduced instant-decision events and made one-on-one meetings available to every prospective student.

His favorite selling point remains the campus itself and what it does for the students who choose it. “We take good students and make them awesome,” he said. He has also backed that belief personally, setting up the Alexander and Anita C. Nazemetz Family Scholarship in memory of his parents to support a student from his home state of New Jersey each year.

In his 26 years at Pitt-Bradford, Nazemetz has admitted thousands of students and stayed in touch with dozens of them — corresponding with alumni across nearly all 50 states and as far as Germany and China. He plans to reconnect with some of those former students as he leaves his home in Allegany, N.Y., to travel the country in his first spring and summer of retirement. If there’s one thing he’ll miss, it will be meeting more students.