A fresh face has joined the KSC Office of Student Involvement for the 2025-26 academic year.
Keri Lewis is taking on the position of coordinator of student organizations and leadership this year, filling a gap left by the departure of Brandon Carta at the start of the 2024-25 academic year, according to previous reporting by the Equinox.
For Lewis, the move comes as more of a return to form than a step into the unknown. Lewis said she previously spent 14 years working at a college just outside of Boston.
“I started in admissions and financial aid and then in that process realized I didn’t like the numbers a lot but I loved working with college students, so slowly I became an advisor of a club and then I became a residence hall director,” Lewis said. “I was a residence director for three years, and then I stepped into what on that campus was called ‘community life,’ so I oversaw new student orientation, student government [and] student activities.”
Lewis said her family moved to Keene about four years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic in search of more green space. She said she had been the HR manager at Target in Keene for the last couple of years when she saw the available position at Keene State.
“I saw this position open up and I was like, ‘It’s time to go back,’” Lewis said.
Her role at KSC is similar to what she has done in the past, Lewis said, but on a larger scale.
“In my previous life I oversaw student organizations, so that piece is similar to what I’m doing now, although this campus is larger than my previous institution. We had about 35 clubs and organizations and this campus has about 60 at the moment,” Lewis said. “In this role, I support clubs and organizations in their operations, working hand-in-hand with student gov because student gov does fund those organizations and recognizes student orgs.”
Lewis continued to say that another important part of her position is leadership development, describing student organizations as a place where students can develop skills.
“I’m a strong believer that student orgs are basically like a laboratory space,” she said. “A place where you can actually test the skills that you’re learning in the classroom and then also develop some other ones, like how to run a meeting, how to communicate professionally with people in the institution and outside the institution. Those are skills I think you can develop by being part of a student club or a student-run organization and I think it’s pretty important to have those opportunities for students.”
Lewis said she expects her first year in this position to be mostly spent observing and learning; however, she said she does see opportunities for growth in the area of leadership development, and gave ideas like creating monthly gatherings for student leaders to learn skills and helping organizations transition and run elections in the spring.
One of the biggest challenges that Lewis identified for herself in this new role is getting readjusted to working with college students at a larger school.
“My previous institution was about a quarter of the size of Keene State, so while I have done a lot of the basic tasks that are required, the scale is much larger,” Lewis said. “I’ve also had a four-year break from working with college students, and it was in a different regional location; I was right outside of Boston. This is definitely a different space, different students, so getting to know the community is pretty important.”
Despite the challenges of adjusting to something new, Lewis said what she is most excited for this year is the new experience of working with fraternities and sororities.
“That is new to me, but I see so much potential there for not just building community and making friendships, but their impact. They have higher GPAs than pretty much everybody else on campus. The fact that they have connections to that national network is going to really help them out once they graduate. I just see so many benefits to fraternity and sorority life,” Lewis said. “This is the first time they’re recruiting in the fall semester and the first time they can recruit first-semester freshmen. I’m really excited to see where that goes this year.”
Director of Student Involvement Jessica Gagne Cloutier did not respond to a request for comment.
Justin Dearborn can be reached at
jdearborn@kscequinox.com
