Three candidates for the inaugural role of assistant vice president for Health and Well-being will visit Metropolitan State University of Denver beginning Monday. Employees and students are invited to attend presentations and open forums to learn more about the candidates and the position.
The role will oversee and help grow well-being initiatives that reduce the challenges that students often experience in meeting their academic goals, such as food and housing insecurity, mental-health issues and more. Additionally, it will provide visionary, strategic and operational leadership for developing a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to student health and well-being. The successful candidate’s purview will include the Health Center at Auraria, the Counseling Center, Campus Recreation and basic-needs initiatives including Rowdy’s Corner.
The new role was created by reallocating existing financial resources within Student Affairs health and well-being teams.
Meet the candidates
MSU Denver collaborated with recruiting firm WittKieffer in a national search to identify three top candidates. Student Affairs will host the candidates for campus presentations beginning Monday
All presentations will take place at 11:15 a.m. in the Jordan Student Success Building, Room 111. Open forums with each candidate will take place at 2 p.m. Contact Student Affairs for forum location information.
Monday: Candidate No. 1 – Kimberly Guyer, Ed.D.
- 2 p.m.
- JSSB 400
July 10: Candidate No. 2 – Waltrina DeFrantz-Dufor, Ph.D.
- 2 p.m.
- JSSB 400
July 12: Candidate No. 3 – Steven Zeeh, Ph.D.
- 2 p.m.
- JSSB 304
See candidate cover letters and résumés here.
Attendees can access all three candidate open forums through the following Teams link:
Meeting ID: 283 222 535 52
Passcode: VidhLV
More about the position
The AVP for Health and Well-being will cultivate a holistic student experience rooted in wellness through a lens of social justice that enhances students’ sense of belonging, said Taylor Tackett, associate vice president and dean of students.
“The factors that influence a student’s choice or ability to enroll and stay in college are highly impacted by the circumstances and systems from which they come,” he said. “Our goal (with this position and in Student Affairs) is to center well-being.”
With that student-engagement lens, the new AVP will help create better infrastructure to support student well-being. That includes bolstering food- and housing-insecurity resources, building a sense of belonging and connection among students and ensuring that each student knows how to effectively navigate the college experience.
“If basic needs and feeling connected aren’t at the center of what we do, our students are less likely to succeed,” Tackett said.
Read the in-depth leadership profile, which outlines priorities and goals.