October 29, 2007
Jody Asbury steps down as dean of students
Matt Burns named to interim appointment
Jody Asbury, who as dean of students sought to enhance
campus life by expanding initiatives aimed at fostering relations between
the University and the city, stepped down October 26 to take medical leave
for a planned surgery.
Matthew Burns, an associate dean of students in charge
of discipline under Asbury, assumed the role of acting dean of students
October 29.
Asbury will not return as dean, but will teach an
undergraduate course on leadership next semester and serve the Rochester
Center for Community Leadership, an extension of the dean’s office
that she helped to found.
Upon being named dean of students in December 2001,
Asbury broadened the focus of the position beyond traditional internal
relations with students to form a bridge between students at the University
and Greater Rochester.
She spearheaded efforts to enhance public
transportation to and from campus, pioneered the Rochester Every Day (RED)
Program to offer discounts to students at 150 area shops and restaurants,
and placed student volunteers in public service roles through the Rochester
Center for Community Leadership.
“Being engaged on campus and off is saying
you’re going to make your community bigger and better,” Asbury
says. “When we started opening up, we saw a double-digit increase in
positive feelings about student life.”
Dean of the College Richard Feldman, who appointed
Burns and has convened an eight-member search committee to find a permanent
replacement, characterizes Asbury’s leaving as bittersweet for the
University.
“Jody’s been a tremendous advocate for
students,” Feldman says. “She’s put her heart into this
job in a way that is really impressive and admirable . . . and I
don’t mind it being said that we laughed about something almost every
time we met. It has been great to work with her.”
Feldman calls Burns “a strong candidate”
for the permanent slot. Acknowledging that some students might be
intimidated by the former chief student judicial officer, Feldman says he
believes that Burns’s even-handedness would eventually win over
skeptics.
“He’s clear, he’s thoughtful,
he’s level-headed,” Feldman says of Burns. “[He has an]
admirable desire to try to balance the well-being of the campus versus the
fair treatment of a student who is involved in a particular
case.”
Student disciplinarian is not the only hat Burns has
worn. His duties as associate dean included student counseling, and
identifying and planning interventions for students wrestling with personal
crises. Before joining the University six years ago, he spent 12 years
working in residential life at the University of Hartford, five of those as
director.
“This is an exciting opportunity and I’m
looking forward to not being typecast anymore as a disciplinarian,”
Burns says. “I’ve got some awfully big shoes to fill. Jody is
perhaps as irreplaceable a person as one can come across.”
A permanent dean of students is expected to be named
next semester and be in place ahead of the 2008-09 academic year.
The search committee, which is headed by Feldman,
includes Associate Dean of Students Anne-Marie Algier; Director of
Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Monica Miranda Smalls; Dean’s Staff
Director Laurel Contomanolis; Director of Minority Student Affairs Norman
Burnett; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Lisa Willis of the University
Counseling Center; Associate Professor of Linguistics Jeffrey Runner; and
Students’ Association President Alvin Lomibao.
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