Lisa Trahan, associate dean of students, has been named the dean of the Office of the First Year Experience—a new office established by Institute President Jackson—effective April 1.
The office, along with Trahan’s promotion, is the first step in the goal of restructuring and enriching the overall first-year experience of students as outlined in The Rensselaer Plan, said Eddie Ade Knowles, interim vice president for student life.
Reporting directly to the vice president for student life, Trahan will be coordinating with all campus departments to help establish the most effective programs for freshmen, first-year transfer students, and first-year graduate students.
Several other staff members from the Office of Student Life have also recently been promoted or reassigned to the new department. Cynthia Smith, coordinator of special projects for the Rensselaer Union, and Nicole Qualtieri, assistant dean of students, have been appointed assistant deans for the first-year experience. Denna Patterson, administrative secretary for the dean of students, has been reassigned to the new office.
Trahan plans to hire one more assistant dean for the new Office of the First-Year Experience, and new employees will also be hired to fill in the positions that have been vacated by the staff who have been promoted or reassigned to the new department, said Knowles.
"We chose members of our Rensselaer community to fill in these very important new positions because of their talent and expertise," said Knowles. "This team will move forward expeditiously to implement the first phase of the recommendations of the Task Force on the First-Year Experience, as detailed in the Student Life Portfolio Performance Plan."
