After reviewing more than 60 applicants, Penn State has chosen three finalists for the vice president for Student Affairs position, a university official confirmed yesterday.
Brian O. Hemphill, vice president for Student Affairs at Northern Illinois University (NIU), and Damon Sims, associate vice provost for Student Affairs at Indiana University at Bloomington (IU), were announced as contenders for the Student Affairs post by Associate to the President for Administration Tom Poole.
The two join the already-announced Robert Bonfiglio, the current vice president for Student and Campus Life at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo, as finalists. Bonfiglio was interviewed on campus March 17.
Poole said Penn State President Graham Spanier will endorse one of the three men before the Penn State Board of Trustees makes the final decision at its May 16 meeting at University Park.
Gail Hurley has served as interim vice president for Student Affairs since Sept. 13 upon Vicky Triponey's resignation. Hurley did not respond to phone calls by press time yesterday.
Hemphill became NIU's vice president for Student Affairs in August 2004 after three years as the associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs and dean of students at the University of Arkansas. His position at Arkansas followed Student Affairs experience at other universities.
After a gunman killed five NIU students and wounded 16 others on campus on Feb. 14, Hemphill stressed strength in a column published Feb. 23 in NIU's student newspaper, The Northern Star.
"Our transition to normality may be gradual, but we will rise above that moment that made our world stand still," he wrote.
Hemphill did not return phone calls by press time yesterday.
Sims has worked in Student Affairs at IU since 1982.
Working with student organizations would be a top priority for him if he was chosen and if he accepts, he said.
" ... I would make meeting with the staff of the Collegian one of my first priorities," Sims said. "I think that partnering with a student newspaper to make sure students are informed is critically important."
The Indiana Daily Student, IU's student newspaper, reported on March 5 that Sims works with student organizations to determine the allocation of mandatory student fees. The Penn State position involves the allocation of the $68-per semester student activity fee.
Bonfiglio said his visit to Penn State shed light on student-administration relations.
"I had the sense that students are very proud of their university, and they would like to have a greater sense that they're being heard by the administration," he said last week. "And I think that listening to students and student groups is something that I'm accustomed to doing."
Though the enrollment at SUNY Geneseo is 5,358, Bonfiglio said his skills are still suited to Penn State.
Jacob Kriss, a senior at SUNY Geneseo and the editor-in-chief of The Lamron, SUNY Geneseo's weekly student newspaper, said he doesn't know Bonfiglio personally but that the administrator is well liked.
"I think that, generally, he has a positive reputation -- from what I understand, more positive than other administrators on campus," Kriss said.
Bonfiglio authored SUNY Geneseo's alcohol policy, which Kriss said is "not terribly strict."
"Obviously, alcohol is still a huge problem here," Kriss said. "People drink to a tremendous extent here, but it's probably more an issue of enforcement."
Poole said Sims and Hemphill will meet with student leaders, other administrators and Student Affairs professionals from University Park and Commonwealth Campuses. While Sims will be visiting March 30 to April 1, Poole would not say when Hemphill will come to campus.
--Collegian staff writer Aubrey Whelan contributed to this report
