A typical day for Anne Leavitt, the newly appointed vice president for student affairs, means more than just being active in committees and public speaking.
Leavitt said sometimes her entire day involves helping just one student or working on a single new idea. She is also the one who guides people interested in promoting a new idea, by helping them with logistics such as space, budget and personnel.
On July 1, a University search committee, including Provost John Moseley, appointed Anne Leavitt, who was previously associate vice president for student affairs, to the position. “She knew all of the people, and those people were all supportive of working with her,” Moseley said.

Karen Sprague, chairwoman of the search committee for the new position, said several other candidates were located, but Moseley eventually decided to hire Leavitt — even though she was not an official candidate — because of her exemplary decade of University service.
“I think that we all agreed that Anne, had she been a candidate, would have been stronger than
any one of those considered,” Sprague said.
Not only is Leavitt new to the job, but the position itself is a recent creation by University administration.
As acting vice president, Leavitt will oversee the offices of enrollment management, financial aid, the registrar, admissions, and student affairs. Leavitt said people do not know that student affairs alone is a large responsibility, and includes overseeing housing, the EMU, the Student Recreation Center, the Counseling Center, the University Health Center, the Office of Student Life and the Career Center.
Vice President for Academic Affairs Lorraine Davis said these responsibilities used to be split into different positions, but placing them all in one domain creates a more
focused delivery of services to students and is a movement toward the student-centered approach for which the University strives.
Leavitt will work for an interim period of two years, after which the job will be reassessed. Her current title has increased her responsibilities, and for those working in academic affairs, the new position has changed the hierarchy. Some of the units in academic affairs that would ordinarily report to Moseley and Vice President for Administration Dan Williams will now report to Leavitt.
She will spend most of her time, especially during the fall, performing her favorite service to the University: talking to students. Leavitt’s is one of the first faces students see when they begin the matriculation process.
“I think what this new position enables me to do is to talk to incoming students about their experience and what is expected of them here,” she said.
Leavitt says it’s important to support students as learners, and to shape the institutional environment so that it supports learning.
“I’m delighted to work with such great students and staff,” Leavitt said. “I think it’s a very special time in the University, in terms of who’s here and the work we’ve taken up together.”