New Residential Dean Named

Suzy M. Nelson, currently the associate dean of students for fraternity and sorority affairs at Cornell, has been appointed the College’s new associate dean of residential life.

Nelson will step into a role similar to the one previously held by Thomas A. Dingman ’67, who took over as Dean of Freshmen this July. As an associate dean of the College, Dingman had oversight of residential life and reported to the deputy dean of the College.

As dean of freshmen, Dingman and his associate deans, as well as the House Masters, will report to Nelson, who will be responsible for upperclass House life as well as freshmen in the Yard.

As the College takes steps to improve social life on campus and to expand across the river, Nelson will be in a position of considerable influence, charged with overseeing aspects of residential planning in Allston as well as integrating freshmen into House life.

Apart from long-term planning, Nelson will also deal with day-to-day affairs of the College, such as improving handicapped access on campus and occupancy issues.

“Her primary focus will be on the day-to-day support for the masters and the senior tutors and working on this issue of appropriate occupancy for the college,” Dingman said in a telephone interview this afternoon. “The question is whether in fact that is the right number, whether there’s more flexibility and whether all the houses have the same amount of elbow room and suites.”

Nelson’s appointment, originally reported by the Cornell Daily Sun, comes as part of the ongoing restructuring of the College. While some University Hall administrators have departed and some have been shuffled into new positions, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 announced this past year a number of appointments and posts intended to help manage undergraduate life.

Last year, the College saw the appointment of a Campus Life Fellow to expand social options on campus, the creation of an alcohol “czar” to oversee alcohol and substance abuse services, and the formation of a sub-committee that examined topics including the role of single-sex organizations on campus.

“This is really a new position, unifying the Houses and the Yard,” Gross said in January, of the dean of residential life, noting then that he wanted the training and organization of freshman proctors and residential tutors in Houses to come from the same place.

Nelson has served as associate dean for Greek affairs since 1998 and will leave Cornell at the end of the month, the Cornell Daily Sun reported. Prior to her stint at Cornell, Nelson, who has been working in higher education for almost two decades, was the director of the Office of Greek Life at Syracuse University.

Undergraduate Council president Matthew J. Glazer ’06 said that Nelson’s extensive experience with Greek life will likely be an asset in her role as the new dean of residential life.

“She was very successful at dealing with fraternity and sorority communities [at Cornell],” Glazer said. “Even though we don’t have such prevalent Greek life on campus, I think it’s important that she’s had that experience working with students on campus. Even though she’s going to be focusing on the residential life at the college, it’s most important to me that she’s had all that experience working and being in contact with students.”

Glazer said that Nelson’s greatest challenge may not be Allston but rather, building student community – the aspect of the Harvard undergraduate experience that Glazer and others say needs improvement.

“I think in terms of residential issues that need to be focused on are the integration of bridging the gap between freshman year and house life, that needs to be improved, and building a house community within the houses,” Glazer said.

Former president of the Interfraternity Council Jeffrey P. Massa, who graduated from Cornell this spring, said that while many may have perceived Nelson as having a largely distant role as a disciplinarian, she was very supportive of the Greek system at Cornell.

“There have been numerous times where the University questions what we do, and Suzy’s always been the level-headed spokesperson for our Greek system in favor of the positive opportunities one has in terms of being a member of a fraternity or sorority,” he said.

Deputy Dean of the College Patricia O’Brien, who is also the co-master of Currier House, coordinated the search for the new dean of residential life.

Nelson could not be reached for comment.

-Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.