Photo by Justin Roth
Christopher Romano, formerly the associate vice president for enrollment management, will be taking up the new position of vice president for enrollment management and student affairs. This change of position is part of an administrative restructuring that is currently being enacted at Ramapo.
Enrollment management and student affairs were previously two separate administrative committees within the Provost. These two areas have embarked on an initiative to design a student engagement model, which is a program that provides “key points of engagement” intended to increase student success and involvement. Last year, Miki Cammarata and Pat Chang, both of whom oversaw student affairs, moved to new positions; Cammarata to vice president for student development at William Paterson University and Pat Chang to assistant vice president of regional campaign and alumni relations at Ramapo. Since then, Ramapo created a new division that required enrollment management and student affairs to report to one vice president, which is now to be Romano.
Romano joined Ramapo College in 2007 as special assistant to President Mercer. It was not until 2009 that he transitioned into enrollment management. He has led that division ever since and will now be responsible for providing leadership and supervision to the departments of enrollment management and student affairs. Together these two departments include 13 offices that Romano must look over. In taking on the job, Romano says his primary focus is on synergy.
“I’ll be connecting the dots of the work that is done within enrollment management to student affairs and then finding broader connections across the College within academic affairs and working closely with the faculty,” Romano said.
Romano is excited by the opportunity to ask one important question across the College: Are we delivering on the promise we make when we recruit students? He believes that enrollment success is dependent upon the answer to that question.
Romano acknowledges that, because he is going from someone who collaborates within the division to someone who is leading it, there will be a learning curve for him. Romano also explained that he is excited to work with a group of individuals across student affairs who are talented, passionate and dedicated to their work. Most important to him is the opportunity to interact more with students and have more direct conversations about the student experience here at Ramapo.
Although only having been in his new position for a few days, Romano has a few changes in mind.
“I’m working with the Provost and the cabinet to respond to some of the concerns about the new schedule changes,” he said. “I will also do some work in planning for a larger discussion on community here at Ramapo. I’m interested in furthering the conversation on both what the values of our community are and what it means to be a member of the Ramapo campus.”
He is also awaiting the results of the work that is being done by external reviewers in relation to alcohol education, sexual assault prevention and bystander intervention. He says those results will provide him with a road map for the future. Romano also plans to begin the search for a permanent dean of students, as the reinstitution of that particular position is an integral part of the new structure.
This structural overhaul will be accompanied by more changes being put in place on July 1. According to Romano, the Office of the Registrar and the Center for Innovative and Professional Learning will report to academic affairs. In turn, the athletics, intramurals and recreation departments, as well as the Educational Opportunity Fund, will also join enrollment management and student affairs.
lheckelm@ramapo.edu
