First of four Dean of Students candidates addresses UI
University of Idaho Dean of Students candidate Jeffrey Long’s main focus is meeting the increased demand for counseling and mental health services, continually assessing student programs and confronting harassment and cyberbullying.
“I believe it is inherently important for Student Affairs to continually ask themselves, what can we do better,” Long said, speaking to a crowd of students, faculty and staff Thursday afternoon in the Vandal Ballroom.
George Wood Jr. | Argonaut
University of Idaho Dean of Students candidate Jeffry Long addresses UI’s faculty, students and staff.
Long is one of four Dean of Students candidate finalists that will visit University of Idaho over the next few weeks. He is currently serving as the assistant vice president for Student Affairs at Bloomsberg University in Pennsylvania, and has also served as the dean of students and chief Student Affairs officer at the College of Mount Saint Joseph.
At UI, whoever takes the position will have big shoes to fill, as they replace Bruce Pitman, who has been working at UI for 41 years.
“It will be a difficult role, but it’s one I’ve had experience doing, and one I feel comfortable doing,” Long said.
Long said he was drawn to UI because of his past experience in the position, albeit at a smaller school with less financial resources available. While looking at available positions, he said he was looking for somewhere to travel to, and felt the rural area around Moscow was attractive enough to lay down roots.
“University of Idaho is not a stepping stone for me … it would be my last step,” Long said.
If appointed, Long said he would focus on improving counseling and mental health services for students. He said in the past, he served on a research team that sought to increase awareness of the counseling services the campus offered students.
“With anxiety over finances, school and work … it can spill over into the environment,” Long said.
He said increased scrutiny of the cost of universities versus the services they provide has been a long time focus of his.
“Higher education has been criticized for high costs, and for the inability for students to find meaningful employment after graduation,” Long said.
He said he has seen a spike in cyber bullying and harassment over the Internet, something he has confronted many times and is committed to continually combating.
“In the past five years, we in Student Affairs have seen an incredible increase in the number of investigations we have conducted based on what is written or posted electronically,” Long said.
Long said he has had a lot of experience in reforming campus culture to combat excessive alcohol consumption by students. At Bloomsberg, he said he wrote a grant in conjunction with 13 other schools to fund outreach and intervention programs, which was awarded and implemented at the schools.
When campus-wide abuse of the caffeinated alcoholic beverage Four Loko became a recurring problem at Bloomsberg, Long said he approached different local vendors of the drink and asked them to pull it off the shelves, rather than waiting for legislation to ban the drink.
Long said he has worked in conjunction with the nearby hospital to create a ‘sober room,’ where trained EMTs monitored intoxicated students who may or may not have needed further medical attention for excessive alcohol consumption.
“I work regularly with the city council, chief of police and the local hospital staff on behalf of students at Bloomberg,” he said.
Anyone interested in giving feedback on Long or any other candidates can submit comments to the Dean of Students office or the university website.
George Wood Jr. can be reached at [email protected]