By: Erica Winn
A new vice president brings new changes with her to Saint Leo. As of Jan. 4, 2019, Saint Leo University welcomed the new VP of Student Affairs, Jen Day Shaw. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY and was a member of the Women’s Tennis team as well as a resident assistant. She received her master’s degree in college student personnel services from Miami University in Oxford, OH, and her Ph.D. in higher education from Florida State University.
She has spent her last 25 years in higher education, with the past eight at her former position as Associate VP the University of Florida, where she oversaw 54,000 students, and was supervisor to orientation, parent & family programs, career services, student activities, Greek life, and community service.
The transition from such a large university to Saint Leo was not as difficult for Shaw as some might think.
“I went to a small private college [where we]had 1,000 students for our whole school for undergrad and I loved it,” Shaw said. “If you were a student leader, you got to be an orientation leader, an RA, Greek life, and I played on the tennis team and you know, I got to do just about everything and I loved that small school experience.”
Similar to her previous roles, Shaw primarily oversees all of the student affairs department at Saint Leo University. This includes Student Activities, Accessibility Services, Career Services, Counseling Services, Military and Veterans Affairs, Health and Wellness, Dining Services, and Campus Life.
Shaw comes to Saint Leo with the mindset to make some changes. The first change is Fall Freshmen Orientation. After hearing feedback from students and families, she decided to redesign the entire Freshmen Orientation starting in Fall 2019 to focus more on student engagement.
“Some of the things we’re doing are [giving students]a lot more time with their Orientation Leader… to engage them and give them good advice, and help students get to know each other and answer questions,” Shaw said.
She is looking to personalize the experience more for the incoming students, as well as offer engagement with staff and current students. Incoming students will have more one-on-one time with their Orientation Leaders and other upper-class student mentors. This allows incoming freshmen and parents to be fully engaged with current student leaders on campus and have them answer any questions about campus and resources available to them, and of course, to give the best support as possible. Groups such as international students, veterans, and commuters will all be able to integrate and get to familiarize themselves with their future colleagues as well.
With Fall Orientation being fully focused on engagement, online modules will be introduced to incoming students. These online modules will contain information about honor codes and the code of conduct handbooks where students can read up on and watch videos.
“During orientation you’re getting so much information that you’re not absorbing it,” she said. “Also, students skip it, so now we have it in a module where students can access it yearlong. That way, all the heavy information students can read or watch a video.”
These modules will be available to students throughout the entire year. By introducing the online modules, this allows for incoming students and parents to feel fully welcomed to the Saint Leo Community.
In addition, parents will also be allowed to stay for two full days and participate in orientation. A convocation-like ceremony will happen during Orientation, which parents are welcomed to stay and attend. This allows parents to witness their child to get to the next stage in their lives—college.
“A lot of schools at the very beginning of school do a convocation which is similar to graduation. The faculty wear the regalia, students walk across the stage, get a pin, and have their names called out,” Shaw said. “Usually there is a speaker… something cool and were very excited about it, and the parents are at that too. That is the last big thing they are at, so they get to witness that and witness their child getting to the next stage in their lives.”
Counseling services and therapy dogs will also be present during orientation for any support needed.
“We’re just being a lot more thoughtful about how does the student feel at this point, how does the parent feel at this point, what can we do to make it better,” she said.
There will also be changes to Career Services in the upcoming year. There are numerous goals to achieve within Career Services with an upgrade to help aid students’ futures as they graduate.
“Career Services at a university like Saint Leo should be phenomenal,” Shaw said. “It should have this huge array of services that provides to current students and alumni to help them with internships, experiential learning, resume, getting jobs… we’re doing a whole bunch to prioritize Career Services to get it to that stage as fast as humanly possible.”
There will be an enhancement with Career Services with deans/departments and cataloging what needs to happen for the better of the students as they prepare to enter the real world. The new Career Services will find out what soft skills students lack according to employers and ensure that Saint Leo students have a wide variety of ways for students to learn these skills before they graduate.
This will be laid out in a comprehensive plan that gives students a road map and ability to show employers that Saint Leo students come to them with something extra. There will be an expansion of the variety of employers available to Saint Leo students for career-related experiences and positions with a special focus on national companies that may employ students from the University Campus, Centers, or Online programs. Programming and services for all Saint Leo students will be provided in a variety of modalities. Career Services is on-going progress, which Shaw looks to complete by the end of the next school year.
There will also be a new campus van and golf cart coming in Fall 2019. The van will specialize in daily routes to help aid students with getting around the area. Routes are still being figured out.
The golf cart will help aid in several things.The golf cart will be doing trips up and down the hill for the students’ safety. Whether a student is sick or it’s late at night, the golf cart will just be a phone call away.
“It will be a night time safety cart,” she said. “There will be two students present always, wearing safety vests, flash lights, and radios where they are talking to security.”
Starbucks will also be coming to campus starting in Fall 2019. While the exact location is still unannounced, there will be renovations to an area on campus where students will be able to get their Starbucks drinks and be able to unwind and do homework. There will be lots of seating, high top tables, benches—just like the typical Starbucks so students can study by themselves, with groups, or just be a social space.
The Wellness Center is scheduled to break ground in Fall 2019. The location is set to be up the hill, and there will be a weight room with treadmills, classrooms for yoga and Zumba classes, and Counseling Services and Health Services will be located there as well. The area will also be recreational areas with a possible Zen garden, more geared to appeal to international students to intermingle.
Shaw stated that her top two leadership attributes are being positive and an achiever, or go-getter. She believes that students should have a voice on campus, which is why she is making changes all around campus. She loves the size of Saint Leo University because it reminds her of her undergrad years, which she loved. She is ready to make changes that students wish to see on campus.
