Offices of the Dean of Students looks to future with new vision

The Offices of the Dean of Students (ODOS) is engaging in a new, long-term effort to increase the number and depth of connections between student life and the academic side of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The goal is part of a recently completed revision of the ODOS mission and vision launched by interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam, along with staff and students in the division.

In the past, the office has been largely geared toward providing a collection of resources designed to promote student success, manage discipline or help students deal with crisis situations.

Although those programs and services will remain in place, ODOS will move into the future by championing the broader goal of becoming the campus leader to help students realize the Wisconsin Idea.

In practice, this shift works to bring together academic programs, faculty and student life sides of the university — creating a unique “Wisconsin Experience” not offered elsewhere.

“We asked ourselves the question: ‘What is unique about Wisconsin and how do we as ODOS contribute to that uniqueness?'” Berquam says. “These experiences would be inclusive of learning taking place in the classroom and out of the classroom.

“We want to foster global engagement and a commitment to community,” she adds. “We want students to find a passion and develop leadership and problem-solving skills that will serve them long after they leave UW–Madison.”

To move in the new direction, Aaron Brower, professor of social work and a well-known student-life researcher and advocate, has moved into ODOS as a part-time special assistant to the dean, in a position jointly funded by ODOS and the provost’s office.

Brower will spend the year bringing together faculty, staff and students to generate plans and new programs for this initiative.

“I can’t imagine a better time to work on joining all sides of campus on behalf of our students,” says Brower. “I figure I’ll be spending a lot of time this year on the phone and making visits across campus to departments and units.”

Programs already in place that embody the Wisconsin Experience include the residential-learning communities, undergraduate research and leadership initiatives, service-learning classes and community-based research, study abroad and volunteerism inspired by the Morgridge Center for Public Service, and the many activities of the Office of New Student Programs and its efforts to create a Freshman Year Experience that blends orientation programs with in-class learning.

“As a university, we now have a decade’s worth of programs all across campus that promote the Wisconsin Experience,” he adds. “Having the provost’s office and ODOS partnership on this project right from the start has been essential.”

The new ODOS mission is to cultivate, advance and interconnect the academic, professional, personal and social development of students and to champion a respectful, globally engaged and diverse university community.

The new ODOS vision is to be the campus leader in inspiring students to live the Wisconsin Idea.