A search committee has been created to find a new leader of student affairs at Ohio Wesleyan University.
The committee to hire a new dean of students is chaired by psychology professor Vicki DiLillo and will soon begin to engage the campus to determine the needs of the position.
Other faculty members on the committee include professor of fine arts Kristina Bogdanov, professor of zoology Shala Hankison, professor of mathematics Craig Jackson and professor of theatre and dance Ed Kahn.
The committee has not yet met to go over strategies for the search, but plan to convene at the end of this month.
Vicki DiLillo shared her thoughts on the committeeâs current situation.
âThe search committee has been appointed but has not yet met,â DiLillo said. âThis means that we still need to collaboratively develop a position description, discuss the primary characteristics we’re looking for in our future student affairs leader and develop a more specific time frame for this search.â
Rock Jonesâs predicted what the committee would be looking for in a recent campus wide email.
âI anticipate there will be a strong focus on student success and engagement, with measurable outcomes related to retention and graduation rates, in addition to traditional services associated with student affairs,â Jones said. âThe title of the position may change as an outcome of the conversation about the most pressing needs for support of students at this time in Ohio Wesleyan’s history.â
The committee hopes there will be a person selected for the position by spring break.
Want to give Kurt Holmes, the interim Dean of Students, an âearfulâ about student life over orange juice and omelets? Well, Holmes wants that too.
In the first profile of a new series focusing on administrators who have a major impact on the OWU community, Holmes gets real about why his position is only an interim one, why he left his fullÂ-time job at the College of Wooster after 14 years and what has surprised him most about OWU.
Q: So youâre the interim Dean of Students here while our previous dean, Kimberly Goldsberry, fills another role. How did you hear about this position at OWU?
A: The connection was Iâve known Kimberly [Goldsberry] and Craig Ullom through professional circles, and I put out on ListServ that I was taking time out to do some other things, and Kimberly said, âBefore you make any commitments, I have a challenge.â She had just gotten word that Craig was going to be stepping down to halfÂ-time and she was going to be taking the interim role, so we spent about several weeks haggling because she would like to have me down here fullÂtime, but with so many other projects I was working on I said I canât really commit to fullÂtime. Iâm here about three days a week. I come here Wednesdays, I stay overnight Thursday, so Iâm around just some extra time, that sort of thing. I guess technically itâs a threeÂ-day-Âa-Âweek gig.
Q: What do you do the other days of the week?
A: Well, some of it is I have a son whoâs looking at colleges and doing his senior year, and Iâve been a chief student affairs officerâthatâs what I was doing at Woosterâand you donât have a whole lot of time to give to family in that respect. We all joke in the profession that someday weâre going to do some writing about all the crazy things that happen, so Iâm actually trying at the very least to start some chapters and get some work done. I donât know if Iâll pull off publishable work yet, but before my memory fades itâs probably time to make some of that into actual text.
Q: So youâre thinking of writing a book then?
A: Itâs part of what Iâm working on. I donât want to commit to any publication dates or anything but I say you can make it through college on the student affairs side if you follow three rules really, and theyâre not very hard: donât drink so much, keep your hands to yourself, and your pants on. Most of the really bad problems, aside from the fact that you got to go to class and to work, avoid themselves. And I know too many cases where students didnât do one or more of those rules.
Q: So the main reason you left your position at the College of Wooster after 14 years for a part-Â time, interim position here is because of family?
A: Well, there are a lot of factors. Theyâre in transition up there as well. They have an interim president and are going to get a new president, so the timing was right in that respect, along with some other things. You donât get to have sabbaticals very often on the administrative side, and so if youâre going to have time to do other things youâre going to have to find ways to carve that out. I could have chosen the faculty route, but I like what I do. I like working with students, but it doesnât come with any chance to go study or do something.
Q: Do you know when youâll be leaving your position at OWU?
A: The agreement is Iâm here through the year, and I assume thatâs the plan for when theyâre going to do the hiring as well. The plan is more of a presidential question.
Q: Do you know what will happen to the Dean of Students position after your term concludes?
A: No, and I think President Jones has the whole division of leadership kind of on the table with that itâs the time to make those kind of big picture assessments. You know, itâs not very often you get a senior leadership transition, so I know heâs spending a lot of time working with the presidentâs officersâthe other VPsâfiguring out what to post and what the structure should look like. My guess is it would be a huge change for them not to hire someone in a pretty traditional chief student affairs officer [position], but I think some of the questions include what the jobs look like and what the structure of working with that person is going to look like.
Q: What are your plans or goals for after you leave OWU?
A: I donât know yet. Thatâs the fun part too. Honestly, in the back of my mind was that this is the time we tell students youâre going to go through four or five careers, not just jobs, in your lifetime, and Iâve been in student life my whole career. And I thought, well, itâs time to look at some other things. And, to be honest, I was doing an awful lot of administrative work and less student contact, and this role, the way itâs configured, is to do a lot of student contact. It reminds me why I like student affairs, so it might be talking me back into the same sort of work.
Q: Is it difficult to be away from your family while youâre here?
A: I have a daughter whoâs at college at Allegheny [College] and I have a son whoâs a senior [in high school]. Theyâre not around all that much anyway. But thatâs part of the reason Iâm home on the weekends when [my son] is doing things, so weâre able to connect there. And the commute is not too bad.
Q: What has surprised you most about OWU and its students?
A: Itâs been good to see just how engaged they are in things that go on. Meaning, looking at the campus from the outside and being a student life person, Iâve always kind of said, âReally? This little narrow, pinchÂpoint campus seems to be divided in the middle, between academic and residence life. And the surprising way that the JayWalk becomes the living room for the campus has been great to see. I have a birds-eye view [from my office] and I can see whatâs going on and then duck out. In fact, I just caught lunch sitting at a table [near the JayWalk], just to watch and listen.
Q: How does student life at OWU differ from student life at Wooster?
A: Where it happens. As I said, Iâm here two nights a week and so I cruise around campus trying to see what social life is like and where the energy spots are, and I was very surprised that [the HamiltonÂ-Williams Campus Center] gets so quiet in the evening. But again, itâs not the thoroughfare in the evening that it is during the day. Thatâs been an interesting observation about the rhythm of the campus and how it flows. Itâs a great indication of the way all of you operate. I walked the library one night on the outside, and thereâs got to be several hundred carrels, and there were probably twelve students using them. But every chair in an open space around a common seating area was packed with people. I also noticed people were actually respecting the quiet third floor rule the evening I was there. It shows how a generation of students interacts in different ways. They donât want to hunker down in their carrel, they want to be out and about.
Q: Have you been able to see much of Delaware? What are your thoughts on the town?
A: Thatâs been a pleasant surprise. I havenât been able to do much in Delaware yet, but Iâve also gotten to see the town. You think of it often as a suburb of Columbus, but it has an awful lot to offer itself.
Q: Is there anything youâd like to add? Anything you want students, faculty, and staff to know?
A: I donât know. I tend to be more of an open book, so Iâve made the pitch every time I talk with students. Find me. Iâm around if someone wants to give me an earful. One of the things President Jones has asked me to do is give feedback on the institution as I go, so while not officially in an outside viewer or consultant role, every couple of weeks I feed him a memo of observations. So, I have to find those by talking to people. I made the offer at student government, and one student took me up on meeting me for breakfast. If you want to catch breakfast, give a holler.
Q: What kinds of things have you put in the memos?
A: The first one really focused on the differences I saw in how opening and move in and orientation, those kinds of things, operated. But some of it is going to be about, well, the college has done some reductions in staffing and what are the implications of that? Every college is worried about retention and keeping students, and coming in with an outside eye and having been at other similar schools, [I notice] what works and what doesnât work in making the student experience positive, which is why I want to catch up with as many students as possible this year.
