Campus visits for the three vice president for student affairs finalists began Monday, with sessions held for students and faculty to meet the candidates.
Kathryn O’Brien, the first candidate to visit campus, came from Cazenovia College in Cazenovia, New York, where she was responsible for the overall operation of the student affairs program.
O’Brien said it was St. Bonaventure University’s mission statement that encouraged her to apply for the position.
“I am very mission driven,” she said. “St. Bonaventure aims to prepare its students for the challenges they will face personally and professionally through the manifestation of Franciscan values, but unlike other universities, it doesn’t stop there.”
O’Brien described herself as a “why” person, looking for the motives behind the act.
“St. Bonaventure’s ‘why’ was very clear,” she said. “It wants to bring out the best in its students.”
If offered the position, O’Brien said she does not necessarily have exact plans for change yet, but an overall vision instead.
“I don’t have a magic ‘one-size fits all’ program to reinvent student life,” she said. “But, I do have a clear model that results in new ideas, opportunities and ways of doing things.”
O’Brien’s vision has three components: impact, condition and practice.
“Student success is the impact I want to have,” she said. “In order to accomplish that, there’s an obligation on my part to ensure conditions facilitate growth. We have to practice these conditions in an inclusive environment that is safe, healthy and progressive towards learning and service.”
On Thursday, Timothy Phillips visited campus from St. Ambrose University, in Davenport, Iowa, where he is the current associate vice president and dean of students.
Phillips said St. Bonaventure’s size and values attracted him the most.
“I believe the experience offered in such a setting is transformational for students during an important time in their lives,” he said. “The core values (discovery, individual worth and community), within the context of the Franciscan tradition, speak to the depths of who I am and what I believe are important.”
Philips said the work is cut out for the person selected for the position, but that it is outlined nicely in the university’s strategic plan.
“I would need to focus on getting to know the depth of St. Bonaventure,” he said. “I want to know what is important to the student body, the needs of individual students and how to work most effectively with faculty and staff colleagues to create the experience students desire.”
If Phillips was offered the position, he said he looks forward to getting to know the people of St. Bonaventure.
“The reputation the university has is quite impressive,” he said. “Simply to be in the finalist pool for this position is quite an honor.”
The final candidate, Pedro Santana, Ph.D., the current dean of students at Stockton University, in Galloway, New Jersey, visits campus today.
Santana has served as the associate dean of students, assistant dean of students and associate director of housing and residential life at Stockton University.
Students are invited to meet with him from 11 a.m. to noon today in the Reilly Center Hall of Fame Room.
Faculty and staff are also invited to attend a meeting from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. in the Dresser Auditorium of the John J. Murphy Professional Building.
Any feedback about the candidates can be shared via survey links included in a campus-wide email sent on April 4.
Photo courtesy of sbu.edu
