The Office of Student Involvement got a little larger as Emily Alexander stepped into the new role of senior coordinator of student involvement and wellbeing on Feb. 5.
The creation of the position came about after Tiffany Matthews, the former coordinator of wellness education at The Wellness Center, took a position at Antioch University New England in the summer of 2023, The Equinox reported in a Sept. 13, 2023 article.
Jen Ferrell, associate vice president for student engagement, said Matthews’ position was reworked and shifted from The Wellness Center into the Student Involvement Office after hearing feedback from Matthews before her departure.
“While [Matthews] was still here, she and I were working on updating her role at the time and so to clarify it, to make sure that some of the things were up to speed for what we need currently,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell said she met with Director of Student Involvement Jessica Gagne Cloutier and moving the position to the Office of Student Involvement was the best course of action, and then a search was sent out.
“The idea being that this will get that position more direct student contact than being housed in The Wellness Center,” Ferrell said.
The role will primarily focus on wellbeing programming, risk mitigation and tackling risky student behaviors such as drinking and substance use.
“We’re hoping that this role really gets to work not only with individual students but with broad groups… [such as] student organizations [and] employee groups,” Ferrell said.
Alexander brings experience in the field of mental health and wellness to the office, having received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Additionally, Alexander earned a master’s degree in public health education and promotion at Plymouth State University.
In terms of her career, Alexander highlighted her previous work at the Monadnock Family Services (MFS), a Keene non-profit organization.
“I worked at [MFS] for about four or five years and I started their health and wellness program there for clients,” Alexander said.
Alexander said she sought out her new role due to her interest in working with students.
“Working with the college student population is really exciting and I think that there’s a lot of opportunity for wellbeing programming and risk mitigation which are two major components of my job and I’m just excited to help students have more opportunities,” Alexander said.
Continuing and expanding collaboration between departments on campus is something Alexander looks to focus on in the coming months
“Part of my hope for beginning this role is to meet with students and to hear what they’re looking for because it is a new role, there’s lots of room for creativity in it,” she said.
Alexander said she wants to ensure her role is student-facing and plans to attend events and programming on campus in the future, noting she is open to feedback.
“Our door is always open, so I’m always happy if people have ideas or a need that they are hoping to get programming offered on campus for, I’m always happy to chat or set up a meeting,” Alexander said. “I’m excited for the role.”
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
