Corey Kelly (Caitlin Cunningham)
When Boston College Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Corey Kelly and her Student Affairs colleagues hold their weekly meetings, the discussion typically ranges from big-picture, program-oriented issues to more everyday topics.
“Anything that becomes popular in college student culture—new technology, new apps, new recreational activities—is of interest to us. These have an effect on students’ day-to-day life, and thus become part of their Boston College experience. It’s just a good idea for us to be aware of such trends and to share our impressions and observations about them.”
It is this holistic view of student life that informs the work of Kelly and her colleagues, and which has been emphasized in a recent reorganization of the Student Affairs division by Vice President for Student Affairs Shawna Cooper Whitehead.
The initiative involved reestablishing the dean of students position and consolidating four Student Affairs offices or functions in that administrative area: Student Support, Disabilities, Student Conduct, and Off-Campus Life. Kelly, who has served in several capacities at BC since 2011—most recently as associate dean of students and director of student conduct—was appointed to her new position in June. Tom Mogan, the former associate VP for student engagement and formation—and who had previously held the title of dean of students until it was discontinued in 2019—is now an interim associate dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences.
Among other objectives, this reorganization aims to emphasize the multifaceted role of the Dean of Students office beyond its disciplinary function, according to Kelly.
“We want to be able to address challenges, concerns, and campus or student incidents as comprehensively and effectively as possible. More than that, though, we want to be in tune with the BC student experience, and to be proactive in building a community and a robust culture of care that reflects the University’s educational and formational values.”
These shared, bedrock values include being accountable for one’s decisions, Kelly said, and part of her office’s charge is to help students make appropriate choices—and to take ownership of their actions if they don’t.
“Student conduct is an area where we can offer support, not simply issue conduct sanctions,” she explained. “A student struggling with University rules and guidelines is often indicative of a larger issue, and DOS will work with our partners across BC to find answers and provide resources.”
“We want to be able to address challenges, concerns, and campus or student incidents as comprehensively and effectively as possible. More than that, though, we want to be in tune with the BC student experience, and to be proactive in building a community and a robust culture of care that reflects the University’s educational and formational values.”
For Kelly and her colleagues, that means engaging with Residential Life personnel, for example, and faculty as well as staff who are in contact with students on a regular basis. “We’re doing a lot more to educate faculty and staff on striking a balance: being respectful of students’ privacy while also passing along concerns they may have—perhaps something in a student’s paper that may raise an alarm, or other behaviors they’ve observed that are disquieting.”
It’s vital for DOS to be a visible, and helpful, presence to students, she said, especially those living off campus. Toward that end, DOS staff, along with members of the BC Police Department and the Office of Governmental and Community Affairs, recently visited off-campus student apartments bearing food and an invitation to chat informally.
“We talked about BC’s expectations for all its undergraduates—and that these expectations don’t stop where the campus ends. But most of all, we wanted to engage with these students, to be authentic, and to give them a sense of the resources and support we provide.”
The office also held a mandatory meeting for off-campus students that focused on accountability and communication within the household.
“For most of these students, it’s the first time living independently in a house or apartment,” said Kelly. “This is an exciting experience, of course, so we offer guidance on how to make it rewarding and safe. We talk about the need to be clear about what is and isn’t acceptable, to check in with one another, and to set limits—you should always know who is supposed to be in the house.
“The message we really want them to take away is they are not out there alone: We have a staff in DOS that is specifically dedicated to helping and supporting students living off campus.”
“Corey Kelly has exhibited tremendous leadership in supporting student responsibility and community standards,” said Cooper Whitehead. “As a senior leader in Student Affairs, Dr. Kelly brings a wealth of knowledge that contributes to the development of our students and to the BC community.”
Administrative leadership in the student affairs field was not the career path Kelly envisioned for herself: She earned an M.S.W. from the BC School of Social Work and held positions in medical social work even as she worked at BC Student Affairs. Yet she sees parallels between the two.
“As a social worker in a medical setting, you’re the middle point between the patient, the family, and the doctor, and you have to have lines of communication with all of them,” explained Kelly, who also holds a Ph.D. in higher education from BC, as well as a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Boston University. “In this setting, we’re the middle point for the students, the University, and wider community. So we can’t be insular, we have to involve lots of other people in our operations and activities.”
Sean Smith | University Communications | September 2022