President Lash Appoints Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Hampshire President Jonathan Lash announced on April 25 the appointment of Gloria Lopez as interim vice president for student affairs and dean of students, to serve for two years. Among Lopez's priorities will be to continue the work initiated by Dean Rachel Rubinstein and Associate Dean Pam Tinto to strengthen ties between the academic program and student life and to create a coordinated and integrated first-year experience.
Lash named Lopez to an interim term to defer the launch of a search for a permanent replacement until after the College’s next president is chosen in 2018. The Presidential Search Committee, comprising trustees, faculty, staff and students is actively interviewing executive search firms as well as inviting feedback from the Hampshire community to guide the College’s search for a new president to succeed Lash after he retires.
“Gloria will bring a deep commitment to the values of diversity, engagement, and inquiry that characterize our community and will provide vision, leadership, and strategic direction to the Division of Student Life,” Lash said in a letter to the campus community. She will begin in June.
Lopez succeeds Byron McCrae, who has been named vice president and dean of students at Davidson College, in North Carolina. “I am deeply grateful for Byron’s work and his leadership,” Lash said. “During his four years at Hampshire, Byron has been a steady advocate for the needs of all of our students.” As vice president for student affairs and dean of students, McCrae has expanded wellness and recovery programing, created new Living and Learning Communities, raised money for anti-racism programming and a student emergency fund, and led the planning for Hampshire's innovative Knowledge and Wellness Commons proposal.
About Gloria Lopez
Lopez served for five years as dean of students at Northampton Community College (NCC) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and as the school's acting vice president and dean of students for a year and a half. She was responsible for overseeing advising, transfer, and disability services; counseling, career, and health services; student conduct and leadership development; and residence life for approximately 10,000 students across three campuses. She managed a student life division of 30 staff and accounted for a budget of more than $2 million. She drove the authorship of assessment tools and processes to ensure the development of high-quality outreach, support, and retention strategies, and taught a course entitled First Year Experience. She was also a deputy Title IX coordinator.
Before her work at NCC, Lopez served as assistant dean of special programs at North Shore Community College in Lynn, Mass., and was a site director at The Posse Foundation, a Boston non-profit that provides college preparation to public high school students. Before that, she provided training and academic support to help youths attain GED, and a college degree, and launched a community peer-leadership program.
Born in Holyoke, Lopez holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Dartmouth College, an MSW with a certification in management from Boston University School of Social Work, and an EdD in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
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