A new Office for Student Engagement is now being created to help students find information more easily and combine Student Organizations, Greek Life, the Student Government Association (SGA) as well as Division for Student Affairs sponsored events to be a more efficient operation for the university.

“We’re trying to have a one-stop place for all students who want to be engaged in activities outside of the classroom, and a lot of those deal with being in organizations, such as Greek Life or Student Government,” said Jim McHodgkins, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs.

Cherié K. Thriffiley will now become the Director of the Office for Student Engagement, formerly the Director of Greek Life.  Beth Richardson will now become the Assistant Director of the Office for Student Engagement, formerly the Coordinator of SGA.  A new position, Coordinator of the Office for Student Engagement, will be an open search, where those qualified will be able to apply online.

“Cherié will oversee a lot of the different things, dealing with the various student organizations and special initiatives that we have, such as Family Day and Traditions,” said McHodgkins. “Beth will probably deal a lot more with the Greeks, and whoever is hired will deal with SGA. But that’s not to say that their positions won’t intermingle.”

Some students are already aware of the changes, such as students who work for SGA or Greek Life or members of their organizations.  However, until the position of Coordinator of the Office for Student Engagement is filled most of the student population won’t see the new office until it’s created.

“They’re seeing some of the change already, but they probably won’t see it fully until the whole thing is rolled out, filling all of the positions,” said McHodgkins. “Right now, they are all just helping each other, as we are one person down.”

The Office for Student Engagement’s main focus will be to provide a connection for students to grow as individuals through events operated by the new office.

“By having a staff in there, it’s going to allow us to be able to do more and to work with the students to engage them in abilities to make them stronger as leaders and individuals in their chapters,” said McHodgkins.

With budget cuts on the rise, the Division for Student Affairs will be able to do more with what they had without adding or cutting anything.  This combination helps streamline processes that may have been done by multiple parties.

“We’ll be able to utilize our resources more efficiently, in staff as well as dollars, so instead of every department having the same thing, we can combine it so we can be more efficient and spread our dollars farther to make them more successful,” said McHodgkins.

For more information about the Office for Student Engagement, contact Thriffiley by phone at 985-549-2120 or email at [email protected].