Appointment of New Vice President for Student Affairs

June 21, 2004

Members of the Rutgers Faculty and Staff:

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Gregory Blimling as Rutgers’ new Vice President for Student Affairs, effective July 12.

With more than 30 years of experience in student life and student development, Dr. Blimling is nationally regarded in his field. He comes to Rutgers from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, where he has served as Vice Chancellor for Student Development since 1990.

Before that, he was Dean of Students at Louisiana State University for nearly a decade. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership in Higher Education from Ohio State University and has written widely on student development issues. Dr. Blimling is consulting editor for the Journal of College Student Development and president-elect of the American College Personnel Association, one of the nation’s leading organizations for higher education and student affairs professionals.

At a time when the university is focused on integrating student life with our students’ academic and intellectual experience at Rutgers, we are fortunate to welcome a new leader with the extensive background and knowledge in student affairs that Dr. Blimling possesses.

At Rutgers, Dr. Blimling will assume the Vice President’s duties now assigned to Emmet Dennis, including career services; diverse community relations; fraternity and sorority affairs; health services; compliance, student policy, and judicial affairs; and services for students with disabilities. In addition, we are adding New Brunswick/Piscataway
Housing and Dining Services to the portfolio of Student Affairs, reflecting our intent to further integrate academics with student life.

We wish to thank all the members of the search committee, chaired by Professor Wise Young, for their dedicated work during this comprehensive national search. We are also deeply grateful to Emmet Dennis for his thoughtful, steady leadership as Vice President, and for the many accomplishments made by him and his extremely capable staff during his service.

Please join us in welcoming Gregory Blimling to Rutgers. He will be an outstanding addition to our university community and a tremendous resource for our students.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey