President Hanycz has appointed an interim vice president to lead the newly named division.

La Salle University has renamed its Division of Student Affairs and appointed an interim vice president to guide the division through at least May, while a search for a full-time administrator is under way.

In a message to faculty and staff, President Colleen M. Hanycz, Ph.D., provided updates on the University’s plans regarding the Division of Student Development & Campus Life. The change in name “depicts, more accurately, the work that is led by our colleagues in that unit, with a strong alignment to our work as Lasallian educators,” said President Hanycz, adding that this move “also represents an emerging shift at colleges and universities nationally.”

Also, President Hanycz announced Kristin Heasley’s appointment as the Interim Vice President of Student Development & Campus Life, effective April 12. Heasley joined the University in 2017 as Assistant Vice President of Human Resources. She will continue her oversight of La Salle’s Office of Human Resources while serving as Interim Vice President of Student Development & Campus Life, President Hanycz said.

While Heasley has helped modernize La Salle’s HR functions and employee support and offerings, President Hanycz said, she also has served extensively throughout her career in various student affairs functions. Heasley, who has worked professionally in higher education for more than 20 years, earned a master of science degree in higher education and student affairs administration at Indiana University–Bloomington.

“Kristin has held a number of progressive student affairs and student facing positions at DePauw University, Indiana University, The Ohio State University, University of Pennsylvania, and Saint Joseph’s University before transitioning to a career in HR,” President Hanycz said. “While Kristin made the decision to focus her career energy on human resources, she has deep experience in and commitment to student affairs.”

These changes come on the heels of the April 2 departure of Dawn Meza Soufleris, Ph.D., who was La Salle’s Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

“I am very appreciative of the work that Dawn Soufleris led in this Division for four-and-a-half years, supported by a strong team of colleagues in that group. I am also appreciative of Kristin’s willingness to support the work of SDCL over the coming weeks as we secure our next leader,” President Hanycz said. “I know Kristin will pick up where Dawn left off.”

Heasley will also serve on the University’s Search Advisory Committee for the next Vice President of Student Development & Campus Life, joining six staff members, two faculty members, and two members of the undergraduate student body. Convened in February, the committee has positioned La Salle to interview finalists for this administrative leadership position in early May, “with a view of identifying our next VPSDCL by the middle of that month,” President Hanycz said.