People on the Move

Leykia Brill has been named to the newly created post of assistant provost for diversity at UMass Amherst, effective May 6. Brill will play a leadership role in the university’s ongoing efforts to make the undergraduate student body more diverse and to help foster an inclusive campus community that attracts and supports diversity in many forms. Currently, she works at Amherst College as associate director for student activities and the Keefe Campus Center. “This appointment is an important step in our ongoing efforts to increase recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented groups,” said Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, who created the assistant provost position last fall. “In her outreach to underrepresented communities, Ms. Brill will play a key role in promoting our campus’ values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and will help us fulfill our goal to create a climate where all students can thrive and excel.” As a member of the university’s Enrollment Management team, Brill will develop contacts and foster relationships with high-school and community-college personnel, communicate directly with prospective students and parents, and collaborate with the Admissions Office in off-campus recruitment efforts. She will train admissions staff on ways to best present the diversity of the university, as well as how to speak about the value of a diverse campus community and work with colleges and departments to coordinate their diversity recruitment and retention efforts with those of Enrollment Management. Brill will also help define and coordinate undergraduate recruitment efforts and marketing materials to reach underrepresented student populations. In her current post at Amherst College, Brill advises, directs, and provides leadership training to the school’s activities board, social council, student association, radio station, yearbook, and more than 100 recognized student organizations. She also oversees $100,000 in the student activities budget and its allocation for programs and student-organized events. From 2009 to 2014, Brill was a member of the admissions staff at Amherst, first as an assistant dean and then as associate dean of admissions/coordinator of diversity outreach. She was involved in developing strategies to increase the enrollment yield of underrepresented students of all backgrounds, focusing additional effort on programming for Native students. She also supervised an assistant dean of admissions, two admissions fellows, and 14 diversity interns for on-campus events, diversity programming, and outreach to community-based organizations. Her achievements included a 50% increase in American Indian applications during one admission cycle and the design of new marketing campaigns for Native student programming and general diversity programs. From 2006 to 2008, Brill was assistant director of admission at Wheaton College in Norton, where she directed the multi-cultural admissions committee and planned programming and recruitment for prospective students of color. She earned her B.A. at Wheaton and an M.S. in higher education policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Craig Poisson has been named the Springfield College director of Athletics, President Mary-Beth Cooper announced. Poisson has more than two decades of athletics administration experience, spending the previous 19 years as a member of the Springfield College Athletics staff and professor of Physical Education. The senior associate director of athletics at Springfield College since 2007, Poisson will begin his new role on July 1. “I admire Craig’s loyalty to Springfield College and his commitment to the field of collegiate athletics,” Cooper said. “I look forward to working with Craig to maintain that standard and to lead our storied program forward as we strive to reach new goals.” Poisson has worked in varied capacities for the previous three directors of athletics at Springfield College: Edward Steitz, Edward Bilik, and outgoing director Cathie Schweitzer, who announced last fall that she would retire in June after 14 years in the position. Poisson’s administrative duties as senior associate director have focused on scheduling and event management for the college’s 26 varsity athletic programs. He has served as event manager or tournament director for numerous NCAA national championships. “I could not be more excited to take this new step as the director of Athletics at Springfield College,” said Poisson. “I would like to express my thanks to President Cooper and the search committee for providing me the opportunity to lead an athletic program with such a rich and storied history. After spending nearly 20 years as a member of the Springfield College family, I am honored to continue the tradition of academic and athletic excellence, and will keep the student-athlete experience as the driver for every decision that we make.” Prior to Springfield College, Poisson served as an athletic administrator and adjunct faculty member at Purchase College, SUNY. He earned a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in physical education from Springfield College and was awarded a bachelor’s degree in elementary and secondary physical education from Southern Connecticut State University.
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Jennifer Brown, Assistant Vice President of Operations at United Personnel, has been elected to the board of directors at Dress for Success Western Massachusetts. Dress for Success is an organization that strives to improve the lives of economically underprivileged women. As a board member, Brown will support Dress for Success’s mission of promoting the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and the career-development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Brown has worked in the staffing industry for 16 years and brings a strong understanding of how individuals can succeed professionally to her work with Dress for Success. She noted, “I am so excited to bring my experience in staffing to help women successfully bridge into a career and chapter in their lives.”
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Springfield College Psychology Professors Judy Van Raalte, Al Petitpas, and Britt Brewer are the recipients of a $10,000 one-year NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant focused on student-athlete career development. Research has shown that student-athletes lag behind their non-athlete peers in regard to career readiness, often failing to recognize how sport-related skills can aid in career preparation. The professors will use the grant funds to refine an evidence-based career-development pilot program designed specifically for college student-athletes. A controlled field trial will be conducted to test the pilot program’s effectiveness. The program is expected to help student-athletes understand how qualities acquired in sport pertain to the workplace, enhancing their career readiness. “Student-athletes develop a number of skills, such as leadership, communication, teamwork, time management, and self-motivation, all of which are highly valued in the workplace,” said Van Raalte. “Our project will help student-athletes to identify skills they have learned through sport and understand how such assets can transfer to the world of work.” Prior research has shown that student-athletes have limited access to campus resources like career centers due to academic and athletic obligations. To complement on-campus career-planning resources, Van Raalte and her colleagues have created the website supportforsport.org to host the content they will create for student-athletes. “Providing web-based psychoeducational materials that are available for program use by a range of campus professionals who work with student-athletes may offer solutions to some of the limitations of career center-focused approaches,” said Van Raalte. “This is exciting research that can directly benefit student-athletes. I am thankful that the NCAA selected our project for funding, and my colleagues and I are thrilled to get started on this project.”