Dear Colleagues,
Over the last academic year, the Dean of Students’ leadership has been working with NASPA, our internal teams, and our student leaders to determine how we can:
- better structure our reporting lines, staffing, and programming from a student-centered lens;
- strengthen organizational ties that support critical student services and student engagement; and
- bring clarity to and reduce confusion amongst students and our campus partners about the services our staff provide.
I am happy to share with you some of the outcomes of this important work and am excited for the possibilities that these changes will bring forward, especially as we work to further our commitment to serving students.
- The LEAD Center Director position will be repurposed to an Associate Dean of Student Engagement who will provide leadership for the Student Leadership and Engagement cluster. Harris Mojadedi will serve as interim in this role as we recruit for this position. Departments that were once housed under the umbrella of the LEAD Center will now have reporting lines to leadership and clustered with departments that are more aligned with their area of focus. The departments in the Student Leadership & Engagement cluster will consist of of the following:
- bridges Multicultural Resource Center
- New Student Services
- Queer Alliance & Resource Center (QARC)
- Student Leadership Programs
- Organization Advising & Student Involvement Services (OASIS) (formerly Student Organization Advising)
- We are sunsetting the “LEAD Center,” and referring students to OASIS to learn about getting involved with student organizations.
- Dr. Lien Truong, Interim Senior Advisor on Equity and Belonging and Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs will continue supervising bridges and QARC until permanent hires are made for these roles.
- Additional changes include:
- Student Governance & Program Advising will now report to the Student Union with a dotted reporting line to the Associate Dean of Student Engagement.
- Fraternity and Sorority Life will report to the AVC for Student Support and Belonging.
- The Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) will report to the Senior Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Public Service Center.
- A re-imagined role, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Support and Belonging, will focus on critical student support services. Alfred Day will continue as interim in this role as we recruit for the position. This position oversees:
- Center for Student Conduct
- Center for Support and Intervention
- Fraternity & Sorority Life
- Graduate & Family Living
- Residential Life
- Parent Services
- Student Legal Services
- As announced in June, the Dean of Students family welcomed David Ortega, Director of Parent Services to our portfolio. David has worked at UC Berkeley for over 30 years in a variety of roles, including Athletics. We’re excited to partner even more closely with Cal Parents and Families.
- We will soon announce a new Interim Assistant Dean and Director of Graduate and Family Living, so please stay tuned for this announcement.
- The Career Center has changed its name to Berkeley Career Engagement. Engagement is a proactive term and resonates more with their goals and initiatives to extend their reach in bringing career services to all students, while being intentional to support the students who need them the most.
- RecSports has changed its name to Recreation & Wellbeing to better reflect their full scope of services supporting students, staff, and faculty encompassing individual physical, mental, and social goals while building community. As the Student Affairs Division announced last week, Recreation & Wellbeing will join forces with University Health Services in a new Student Affairs unit, Health and Wellbeing. While we have loved having Recreation & Wellbeing as part of the Dean of Students portfolio, we are excited for this transition for their team.
For a visual of the new organizational vision and structure, here is our updated organizational chart.
If you have any questions regarding these transitions, please do not hesitate to ask your department leader or feel free to send me an email at sunnylee@berkeley.edu.
Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to our mission of enhancing the student experience, especially as the fall semester draws near and we get ready to welcome both new and continuing students to campus.
Go Bears!
Sunny Lee, Ph.D. [she/her]
Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Students
Office of the Dean of Students