University of Maryland administrator to head Student Life
Trustees approve Adams-Gaston appointment
COLUMBUS – The Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Javaune Adams-Gaston to a major university leadership position at its meeting on Friday (11/7). Adams-Gaston will fill the post of vice president for student life following the January 2009 retirement of Richard Hollingsworth, a 35-year Ohio State veteran who has held that position since 2006. Adams-Gaston currently is executive director of the University Career Center and the President’s Promise program at the University of Maryland in College Park, as well as equity administrator in the university’s Division of Student Affairs.
With more than 25 years of administrative experience at the University of Maryland, Adams-Gaston has served in a number of capacities, holding key positions in student affairs, academic affairs, intercollegiate athletics and university-level administration. A licensed psychologist, she has held teaching positions at Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and Iowa State, and has presented her research at a number of national conferences. She has served as a peer reviewer for NCAA Athletic Certification since 1997. “Dr. Adams-Gaston is one of this country's most forward-thinking, successful student life professionals," said university President E. Gordon Gee. "She has a full understanding of the broad range of students' needs, and I look forward to working with her to make Ohio State the nation's finest collegiate environment."
In her new role, Adams-Gaston will oversee an office with more than 5,000 employees, including 4,000 part-time student employees, and an annual budget of $176 million. The Office of Student Life is responsible for a wide range of student services, including housing, food service, recreation, the Ohio Union and student activities, mental health and career counseling, health care and wellness, disability services, the Multicultural Center, parent and family relations, student judicial affairs, off-campus student services, student advocacy, BuckID, and the student housing legal clinic (in partnership with the Moritz College of Law), as well as conference services and several event centers.
Adams-Gaston received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Dubuque in Iowa in 1978, her master’s degree in applied clinical psychology from Dubuque’s Loras College in 1980, and a doctorate in psychology from Iowa State University in 1983.
Contact:
Shelly Hoffman
(614) 247-4748