The Vice President of Student and Campus Life is the executive body of the Department of Student Life (pictured above), located in the College Union (Xavier Delcid/ Photo Editor).
The national search for the next Vice President of Student and Campus Life has accelerated since President Denise Battles informed the community last April, in a campus-wide email, that former VP Robert Bonfiglio resigned.
On Nov. 4, Battles communicated via email to the campus community that a search committee has been constituted by the college, chaired by chief diversity officer robbie routenberg.
The VP of Student and Campus Life oversees all “student facing work,” according to routenberg. This work supervises residence life, the University Police Department, health and counseling, student life, the dean of students and the center for community athletics.
Bonfiglio was the longest serving member of the president’s cabinet before his departure, according to a Feb. 2019 article published in The Lamron. He served in the position for two decades.
David Braverman has served as the interim VP since Bonfiglio’s departure.
“This role is incredibly important,” routenberg said. “The importance of the role is the reason that I was both excited and nervous to take on the chairship of this search. From an administrative perspective, this person is the advocate and the voice for students … students are the most important constituent group we have on this campus.”
routenberg said the search committee is looking for somebody who is incredibly student centered and vision oriented, with a strong focus on inclusion.
“I collaborate as a peer on t was important,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco said that, due to the lack of experience these first-years have, midterms serve to track progress when they are in a new environment.
“With freshmen and transfer students, we need to be sure and keep track of their progress. They’re in a vulnerable situation having no GPA and/or very little for a GPA, so it’s a way to keep them on track and I think it’s useful for that,” Pacheco said.
cabinet with the VP. The position includes mainly student facing work. Some of that work naturally and importantly connects to supporting diversity among students,” routenberg said.
According to Battles’ email, the recruitment timeline will mainly commence during the spring semester. The college aims to have appointed finalists and subsequently conduct on-campus interviews by the end of this academic year with the new VP to begin work in the summer of 2020.
“The search committee is comprised of two students as well as a couple of staff and faculty from across the college,” routenberg said.
Faculty and staff comprising the search committee include professors from various departments and staff who work with the UPD, the Center for Community, Computing and Information Technology and the Office of Diversity and Equity, according to Battles’ email.
“Last week, we invited the search consultant, Jan Walbert, to visit the college and meet with various constituents,” routenberg said.
According to an email routenberg sent to the campus on Nov. 4, Jan Walbert works with Keeling and Associates. The purpose of her Nov. 6 visit was to gather input about qualities the campus would like potential candidates to embody.
routenberg said the college typically works with search consultants when seeking to fill vice president positions because it is of the utmost importance that the search is done correctly and to its fullest.
“It is to ensure that we are picking from a strong pool of candidates. [Search consultants] help ensure we are examining a large enough, qualified and diverse pool full of candidates that have a high likelihood of accepting the position,” routenberg said.
According to the Keeling and Associates website, their executive search seeks to supply colleges and universities with support that is “comprehensive, focused and characterized by open and regular communication with clients and candidates” to guarantee a successful hire.
“Based on her visit, she basically found 20 different answers to the question ‘what do you want to see in a vice president?’ Based on those conversations that she had with students, staff and faculty, she is currently drafting the job description and campus profile that I will be receiving in the next day or so,” routenberg said.
A campus profile goes beyond the job description and adds context to what the position entails, according to routenberg.
“Upon receiving a draft from her, we can then begin the editing process,” routenberg said. “The plan is to post the position in the next few weeks, either right before or right after Thanksgiving.”
routenberg said that after this step in the process, Walbert can really home in on a strong pool of candidates.
“She will also do some extra steps when collecting the candidate materials to move onto preliminary interviews and create summaries of those interviews,” routenberg said. “This way, the search committee has the maximum amount of information.”
According to routenberg, by February the search committee will be able to identify who from this large pool of candidates will visit campus for the next round of interviews.
“It will probably be three candidates. That is the key opportunity for the campus to vet these people. There will certainly be a way for students to engage in the process. If the candidate engages well in this process, we will assume that they align with the campus needs and wants,” routenberg said