Cherrey to succeed Dickerson as vice president for campus life

After joining Tulane in 2003, Cherrey was the member of a senior leadership team tasked with managing the school’s recovery and renewal in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. Tulane closed its campus for the fall term that year.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian on Monday, Cherrey said her move will be bittersweet. “When you’re part of bringing back a university and also being a part of the rebuilding efforts of the city, it stays with you,” she said.

The rebuilding efforts she helped to lead in New Orleans involved requiring that all undergraduate students take a service learning course. She mentioned that architecture students were involved in designing new houses for city residents and students from several disciplines were involved in making them.

“Cynthia’s concern for students has always been the motivating force of her professional life,” Yvette Jones, Tulane’s executive vice president for University Relations and Development, said in an e-mail. “This was evident during Hurricane Katrina, when she directed our Office of Student Affairs through one of the most challenging moments in Tulane’s history.”

Cherrey said she decided to take a position at Princeton because of its commitment to certain ideals, including teaching, research, service and an unparalleled student-life experience.

“I feel humbled in many ways in ... joining this great institution of Princeton University, and I’m just very excited to be part of the future growth of Princeton,” Cherrey said.

She explained that she hopes to focus intensely on “listening and learning,” particularly in the first few months of her appointment, and meeting with students, faculty and staff.

“In a broad, overarching sense, one of my main goals is to make sure that we continue to advance and promote a common student experience that is very intellectually centered, very culturally diverse and civically engaged,” she said.

In her new role, Cherrey will oversee the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, the Department of Athletics, University Health Services, the Office of Religious Life, the Pace Center and Career Services. Career Services is now managed by the Office of the Dean of the College, but will be transferred to Cherrey’s office in a reorganization this summer. She will also work with the Graduate School to address concerns about graduate students’ quality of life.

Executive Vice President Mark Burstein, who chaired the search committee that selected Cherrey, said that she impressed the committee in several ways. Cherrey was the first to connect with the students on the search committee, while her student references were “by far the strongest,” he said.

Burstein said that Cherrey also distinguished herself with her experience in similar administrative roles, leadership and management research, interest in teaching, approach to student body inclusiveness, understanding of the importance of students’ co-curricular life and commitment to community service.

A particularly compelling point in Cherrey’s interview, Burstein said, was her description of her experience as the first member of her family to attend college, which he said showed a capacity for understanding student divisions that may exist on campus. He explained that fostering an inclusive student community means looking at the experiences of students who receive financial aid and those who do not, student athletes and non-athletes, and members of eating clubs as well as those who do not join them.

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“She thought about the issues from that vantage point,” Burstein said. “Knowing that not everyone fits into the college experience when they show up the first day, how can you create a community, an experience, a set of services that are available to everyone that comes, even on the first day of their freshman year?”

Though Dickerson does not teach courses, Cherrey said that she hopes to do so.

“I definitely would like to teach in the future at Princeton if that’s a possibility,” Cherrey said. “One, I love to teach, and second, I think it’s important in our role that we continue to look at the classroom experience.”

Dickerson said that perennial concerns Cherrey will face are high-risk drinking on campus, diversity and inclusion, and the social climate on campus.

Dickerson envisions a smooth transition for Cherrey, saying, “Princeton is a very gracious and receptive community, so I certainly appreciated the warm welcome I received when I came.”

Dickerson, who will retire on June 30 after working at the University for 10 years, added that “I’ll do my part to help.”

Cherrey worked at the University of Southern California from 1989 to 2003, rising to become its associate vice president for student affairs and a clinical associate professor at the Rossier School of Education.

Cherrey has also participated in the W.K. Kellogg Leadership project to advance leadership knowledge, education and practice for the 21st century and now serves as a senior fellow at the James McGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.

Cherrey graduated from St. Cloud State University and received a Fulbright scholarship before earning a Ph.D. in communication studies with a concentration in organizational leadership and management from the University of Denver.

“As she begins this new chapter of her career, we wish her every success,” Jones said.