Vice President for Student Life

Vice President for Student Life

 

The University of Rochester (Rochester) seeks an innovative and strategic leader to serve as its first Vice President for Student Life (VPSL). This individual will lead a new unit instrumental to student success and will play a crucial role in designing the portfolio and approach to creating an exceptional undergraduate student experience at a residential, research-intensive institution. The VPSL will also be an essential leader in supporting student life for graduate and professional students across the institution. This is a central focal point of the University’s new strategic plan, Boundless Possibility 2030.

 

Since its founding in 1850, Rochester has been committed to preparing its students for success in their future lives and career roles. About one year after the University was founded, Rochester adopted its beloved motto, Meliora–Latin for “ever better.” A few years later, the first campus was built on eight acres of dandelion-covered pasture. Today, the University’s motto and the dandelion are ever present as tributes to the University of Rochester’s past and emblems of Rochester’s maverick spirit. The quality of the student experience has been a central value throughout this history.

 

Rochester is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) due to its excellence in research productivity--one of only 28 private universities in the U.S. to earn the distinction--and is consistently ranked among the top 40 national research universities in the United States. The University is home to the world-renowned Eastman School of Music, closely integrated Schools of Arts and Sciences and the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Simon Business School, the Warner School of Education and Human Development, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, the School of Nursing, and the Eastman Institute of Oral Health.

 

The VPSL position provides an exceptional opportunity for an innovative and collaborative leader to create and steward a new division devoted to student life. Building upon Rochester’s position as one of the world’s leading private, comprehensive research universities, the VPSL will articulate a vision for Student Life across the University and leverage broad support to ensure that Rochester is a national leader in promoting student success, joy, and thriving. While embracing the University’s historical commitment to impactful teaching, research, and student experience and outcomes, the VPSL will bolster Rochester’s aspirations to be a field leader in all aspects of today’s higher education experience—academic, emotional, and interpersonal.

 

This position will oversee a considerable portfolio of responsibilities, including leadership, strategy, supervision, operations, and assessment. The successful candidate will be a creative and collaborative leader who embraces the University’s mission and strives to promote student success, joy, and thriving. The inaugural VPSL must be committed to enhancing the student experience and will bring subject matter expertise, knowledge of current and emerging student development trends, and a strategic mindset to further student life and student success initiatives at the University. A baccalaureate degree is required; an advanced degree is preferred.

 

For best consideration, please send all nominations and applications - electronically and in confidence - to:

 

Shelly Weiss Storbeck, Global Education Practice

Lead and Managing Director

Ruth Shoemaker Wood, Managing Director

Danielle Mebert, Senior Search Associate

Storbeck Search

RochesterVPSL@storbecksearch.com

 

For more information, please visit the University of Rochester’s home page at https://www.rochester.edu/.

 

The University of Rochester values diversity and is committed to the equal opportunity for all persons regardless of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, military/veteran status, national origin, race, religion/creed, sex, sexual orientation or any other status protected by law.

 

The University complies with all applicable non-discrimination laws in the administration of its policies, admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in University programs and activities.

 

The University maintains a policy regarding Affirmative Action, pursuant to its obligations as a federal contractor, which can be found at:

 

http://www.rochester.edu/working/hr/policies/pdfpolicies/102.pdf