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May 12, 2005

New vice provost and dean of students named

Saint Louis University’s vice president for student development will become Pitt’s vice provost and dean of students July 1.

Kathy W. Humphrey will replace Jack L. Daniel, who has served as vice provost for Undergraduate Studies and dean of students since September 2001. Daniel will retain the position of vice provost for Undergraduate Studies.

Humphrey, 43, has been Saint Louis’s vice president for student development for almost five years. In this role, she served as the chief student affairs officer on the president’s coordinating council, responsible for developing living and learning housing options, increasing opportunities for students to interact with others in the university community, and initiating first year and sophomore year experience programs.

In her new post, Humphrey will further integrate student and academic affairs. She will oversee 170 professional and clerical staff in the Division of Student Affairs including units such as the Office of Student Life, Residence Life, the University Counseling Center, Student Health Service, the University Judicial Affairs System, Career Services, Disability Resources and Services and the Office of International Services.

Provost James V. Maher said, “I have great confidence that Dr. Humphrey will provide the energy and leadership needed to strengthen the many vital connections between student life and academic life. She shares our vision of an undergraduate education that addresses the needs of the whole student, so that our students strengthen their communication skills and their sense of motivation, responsibility and self. It is our goal that our students will become, more than ever, perceptive, reflective, contributing individuals within a diverse community of faculty, staff, administrators and fellow students.”

Patricia Beeson, vice provost for graduate studies and chair of the vice provost and dean of students search committee, said that Humphrey was chosen from a “great pool of candidates, a diverse group from different types of institutions, different geographical areas and different backgrounds in student affairs. Dr. Humphrey rose to the top of a pool of well-qualified candidates.”

In making her decision to come to Pitt, Humphrey told the University Times this week that the values of Pitt’s institution resonated with her professional values. Specifically she was impressed with Pitt’s focus on broadening the student experience beyond the classroom.

Pitt’s emphasis on “broader issues, helping the students to define who they are, not just their major, turned on all the lights for me when I interviewed for the position,” said Humphrey.

She previously served as the associate vice provost for student development and the director of residence life at Saint Louis.

She is author of the book “Let Your Leadership Speak: How to Hear and Be Heard.” She has received numerous awards, including the 2004 William B. Sweet Distinguished Service Award from the Upper Midwest Region of the Association of College and University Housing Officers (ACUHO) and the ACUHO 2004 Foundation of Excellence Award. She also received Saint Louis University’s 2002 Woman of the Year Award, the university’s 2000 Mary Bruemmer Award and the Saint Louis 2000 Argus Distinguished Citizen Award, honoring the administrator who contributed the most to improving campus life for students.

In addition, the International Student Federation of Saint Louis University, in 2001, named its diversity award the “Kathy W. Humphrey Award for Diversity.”

Humphrey is a member of the Association of College Personnel Administrators, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and ACUHO-International.

She earned a B.S. in education at Central Missouri State University; an M.A. in higher education administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Ph.D. in higher education administration at Saint Louis University.

—Mary Ann Thomas


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