Enhancing the Student Experience: Expanding the Dean of Students Operation

Marianne Huger Thomson

In support of enhancing the living and learning environment for students, the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience today announces an expansion of services and a new model for the dean of students operation. Under the leadership of the dean of students, the new model aims to address student issues and provide support in a proactive, systemic and integrated way. To lead this expansion and new model, Marianne Huger Thomson has been appointed associate vice president and dean of students.

With support from the Invest Syracuse initiative, the dean of students operation will also see an increase in staffing in areas of student case management, conduct investigations and programming within the residence halls.

“As we work collectively to advance the student experience in and out of the classroom, growing the dean of students operation and implementing a holistic, integrated model will provide us with new opportunities to support student learning and success,” says Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president in the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience. “Under Marianne’s leadership, we will be able to expand our reach in identifying and addressing students’ needs, create an integrated approach to assisting students and families as they navigate the student experience, and build greater capacity for collaboration with our school and college colleagues.”

As part of this new model, the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience is also implementing a new approach to the residential experience. The newly established Student Living unit brings together the areas of Residence Life—including South Campus and Learning Communities, and Off-Campus and Commuter Services—into a holistic, integrated unit encompassing the whole student living life cycle. As students transition housing environments year-to-year, this integrated approach creates new ways to leverage the whole living experience as an opportunity to promote belonging, inclusion, community, independence and learning.

The Office of Student Assistance will also see enhanced integration and support under the dean of students, as the office will play a greater role in leading intervention, prevention and crisis management efforts.

Thomson, who joined the University in September 2018, has led the Student Living, Student Assistance, Student Rights and Responsibilities, and Parent and Family Services areas since she arrived.

Thomson brings more than a decade of experience as a leader in a dean of students operation, including as assistant and associate dean of students at American University. She has overseen crisis response, intervention, disability services, case management, orientation, parent services and academic support in her roles at prior institutions.

Throughout her career, Thomson has held several leadership roles in the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) professional organization and has served as a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. She also taught for eight years in George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University and a master’s degree and an Ed.D. in higher education administration at George Washington University.