STUDENT AFFAIRS VP APPOINTED

SueAnn Strom has been appointed vice president of student affairs at Southeast Missouri State University.

The appointment was approved by Southeast's Board of Regents during a closed-door meeting Thursday.

Strom, who has been assistant vice president of student affairs at Mankato State University in Mankato, Minn., since 1989. was chosen from 124 applicants.

She is scheduled to begin her new job Aug. 24, which is the start of the fall semester. Strom will make a salary of $76,000.

Strom will assume control of a restructured student affairs division at Southeast, replacing Caryl Smith, interim vice president.

Smith, a student affairs administrator with the University of Kansas at Lawrence, was hired last year by Southeast to help direct the restructuring effort and the hiring of a permanent vice president of student affairs.

Smith was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Thursday.

"Dr. Strom brings a wealth of experience in student affairs to her new post," said Kala Stroup, president of Southeast. "That experience includes being acting vice president of student affairs at Mankato State University for 18 months, during which time she performed all the duties she will be responsible for here at Southeast."

In addition, she designed Mankato's "freshman year experience" program, and she initiated and directed the Enrollment Management Task Force there. Prior to Mankato, she was director of placement and then director of student activities and placement at Stephens College in Columbia, Mo.

She has held a number of student affairs positions at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and she also has counseling and teaching experience.

"Dr. Strom's entire focus during her professional career has been students and their welfare," said Stroup. "Her experience will make her a strong link in our administrative team, and we're delighted to welcome her to our campus. Our students will be the real beneficiaries of her proven dedication to student affairs."

Strom visited the Southeast campus on June 22 and 23 as part of the hiring process. During her visit she met with university officials and students.

"I feel if you're in the business of student affairs you must genuinely love students," the campus newspaper, The Capaha Arrow, quoted Strom as telling students.

"What I mean is, I have to want to come to work in the morning. I have to want to listen to you and to hear your problems and concerns," she said.

Strom has a bachelor's degree in English from Ohio University, a master's in guidance and counseling from John Carroll University, and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Missouri-Columbia.