Brian Dominguez was recently hired as assistant dean of students and director of greek life. As the director, his responsibilities include helping students with various aspects of greek life such as fellowships, neighborhood relations, leadership, and involvement in the Rensselaer and Troy community.
Dominguez comes to RPI with a strong educational background and experience. He received his master’s degree in student affairs in higher education. He has advised and coordinated greek programs for five years, working in several institutions including SUNY Oswego, Lake Superior University, SUNY Delhi, Northern Arizona University, and Muskingum College.
The reason he chose this position was because he believes that Rensselaer has a greek system that is “well-established and stronger than other colleges’ system.” The administration supports the greeks and has a strong value for the system. Dominguez feels that the greek department is already in a good state. He wants to help students with parties, management of their fraternities or sororities, and get them more involved with RPI.
“I want the Rensselaer administration to depend on the greek community for various social and community affairs,” he said.
He believes accomplishing his goals will not be very difficult, especially since the leadership of the greek community is very strong.
“I have no worries,” he said.
The only obstacle he does see in his path is that he will have to learn quickly about what it is like to be at an engineering school. “Unlike other schools, students at RPI need to be more focused on their schoolwork and lack of time plays a huge factor for greeks.”
Dominguez feels very welcome at Rensselaer. In his first three weeks, he has met many students, administrators, and faculty members. Students have introduced themselves and invited him to dinner at their houses. There was a president’s reception held in his honor.
When asked for his message
to the Rensselaer community, Dominguez replied, “The main thing I want to do is adhere to the president’s vision of Communiversity. I want to see more attendance at programs, athletic and social events. The students should be supportive of each other. I hope that all departments unite and work towards making students happy in all aspects and reach the vision of the university.”
He added, “All students should enjoy their experience at RPI. In fact, graduation shouldn’t be the end of the experience. The students should want to come back.”
