Division of Student Affairs announces new leadership in key areas

13 Aug 2013

Heather Evans, Byron Hughes, and Sharrika Davis

The Division of Student Affairs at Virginia Tech has announced plans to fill several positions in key areas with interim leaders.

“We are fortunate that some amazing leaders currently in the division have agreed to serve in interim roles. I look forward to all that will emerge as these colleagues lead in new and different ways,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo. “We are surrounded by smart, capable professionals who lead with an ethic of care and service. This is Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) at its finest.”

Heather Evans, currently director of fraternity and sorority life, will serve as interim director for the Virginia Tech Leadership Education Collaborative, a newly formed leadership development department that will expand and enhance co-curricular and curricular leadership programs across disciplines, establish a central clearinghouse of and framework for all co-curricular leadership opportunities, and supervise the adviser to the Student Government Association.

She will assume her new role on Monday, Aug. 12, in Squires Student Center. Evans will work closely with Jamie Joslin, assistant director of leadership development programs, and graduate students from the educational leadership and policy studies and curriculum and instruction programs.

Evans has done significant leadership development work in her current position, including the formation of the fraternity and sorority life advisory council and founding the Emerging Interfraternal Leaders program. Under her direction, the fraternity and sorority community’s average grade point average was higher than the average undergraduate GPA for both fall 2012 and spring 2013. The fraternity and sorority community saw an increase from approximately 3,442 students (15 percent of the undergraduate population) in fall 2011 to approximately 4,130 students (18 percent of the undergraduate population) in spring 2013.

Byron Hughes, currently associate director of fraternity and sorority life, will serve as interim director of fraternity and sorority life. As a strong contributing member of the fraternity and sorority life team, Hughes is poised to assume this new role, Perillo said.

In this capacity, he will work closely with the four governing councils (Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, and Panhellenic Council), more than 50 individual chapters, chapter advisors, faculty advisors, alumni, regional and national volunteers, and national headquarters representatives.

Sharrika Davis, currently associate dean of students, will serve as interim director of multicultural programs and services. Davis will begin her new role on Friday, Aug. 16. Davis comes to the interim position with exceptional knowledge about issues of inclusion and multicultural competencies, Perillo said.

Davis joins Kristen Houston, assistant director of multicultural programs and services; Veronica Montes; and Rhonda Rogers. Multicultural programs and services will also be hiring a new LGBT coordinator and another staff member to lead the program on intergroup relations.

Multicultural programs and services provides a welcoming environment on-campus for underrepresented and historically marginalized populations. Multicultural programs and services coordinates major cultural heritage celebrations, advises student organizations for underrepresented populations, and oversees the Multicultural Center and Black Cultural Center. The group also coordinates peer mentoring programs for incoming first-year students and offers opportunities for dialogue across differences, student leadership training, diversity training, and community building activities.

Perillo said that in spring 2014, the division will engage in national searches for a new director for the leadership education collaborative and a new director for multicultural programs and services, which will allow time to search at national professional conferences.