New administrator settles in at UI
For now, Jean Kim may want to keep her music down.
Living among students in a Scholars LLC apartment, the new vice provost for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management said she didn’t want to create the wrong impression with her neighbors when she turned on her portable speakers.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Jean Kim, vice provost for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, works in her office Tuesday on the second floor of the Idaho Commons. Kim is the first to claim the title, as the role is newly defined after the retirement of previous UI Dean of Students Bruce Pitman.
“It’s like adjusting the volume, because I don’t want (students) to be like ‘Oh yeah, who’s living over there, creating that racket?'” Kim said.
Kim began her new role at the University of Idaho Jan. 5. After a long interviewing process for the vice provost of Sudent Affairs and dean of students positions last fall, UI administrators opted to separate the two. Kim was offered the vice provost position, as well as the new head of Enrollment Management.
“I was excited about joining the University of Idaho, in large part because of this new position and new opportunity to contribute,” Kim said.
In the dorms, where she currently resides until she moves all of her belongings to the Palouse, Kim wishes she had more time to interact with neighbors, but said living in the dorms is a good first-hand experience, given her position at UI.
Kim arrived in Moscow in late December and said she immediately felt the strength and love of the Moscow community in the wake of a tragic shooting that left three dead and one injured. Attending a candle light vigil and a memorial service, Kim said she was moved by the community’s support for the victims and their families.
“It did feel like it’s a really close-knit community that seems to have the right sort of priorities,” she said.
Although most of her time has been spent at the office since coming to Moscow, Kim said she has checked out some local restaurants and even made it to the Cowan Spectrum for a men’s and women’s basketball game.
“College basketball is one of my favorite sports to watch,” she said.
Much like students living in the dorms, Kim said she utilizes campus facilities and works out five to six times a week at the Student Recreation Center.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Kim emigrated to the U.S. from Seoul, South Korea, when she was 12 years old. She lived in Springfield, Massachusetts, and said she found her passion for student affairs after working as a live-in resident hall director when she was a graduate student — a job she took for the free apartment and extra money, but turned out to be much more.
“That first year of working with students in the residence hall was really transformative time for me,” she said. “It was the most challenging, the most rewarding year that I ever had.”
She said there she found a passion for counseling students and helping them achieve their full potential, and at the end of the year she decided to switch her major and pursue a career in student affairs.
After receiving a doctorate of education in counseling psychology, Kim went on to serve in high-level student affair positions at Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, University of Puget Sound, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Hartford. She also served in leadership roles at Western New England College and Stanford University.
Kim said she chose to come to UI because of the enthusiastic students she met during her on-campus interview, as well as her adoration of the Moscow campus.
During her interview, Kim said it was clear UI students enjoyed the college experience and were serious about their education — something that she said left a positive impression on her.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]