Laura Blake Jones, interim dean of students at the University, has accepted a position as dean of students at the University of Michigan.
“The associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students position at the University of Michigan is a very exciting professional opportunity for me,” Blake Jones said in a prepared statement.
She will begin her new job on July 13, pending a decision by the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents.
ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz worked with Blake Jones and said he loved the experience. “She was an absolute gem of the University community and her long service to the University has been one of incredible dedication to students,” he said.
Dotters-Katz credited her with renovating the University’s emergency planning policies and said, “She was the kind of administrator that was always around after hours and going the extra mile.”
Blake Jones received her bachelor’s degree at Miami University of Ohio, her master’s in Student Personnel Services at the University of Vermont and a Ph.D. in educational leadership at this University.
She has worked in student affairs at all of those schools, as well as at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Davis.
Paul Shang will replace Blake Jones as the University Dean of Students and will begin May 1, Blake Jones said. Shang is the assistant vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
“This move will take us closer to extended family and allow me to utilize, in a new setting, all of what I have learned from working with our amazing students, and the talented staff and faculty at the UO,” Blake Jones said. “And, while I am very excited to become a Wolverine, I want you to know that part of me will always be a Duck!”
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