Vice President of Student Affairs Karen Lange discussed how campus life will change as the student body grows and the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena nears completion at the Undergraduate Student Government meeting on Thursday, Oct. 10.
Lange’s role includes supervising many of the departments involving student engagement.
Some of the departments and centers she oversees include the Anderson Student Center, Student Diversity and Inclusion Services, Residence Life, Campus Life, Off-Campus Student Life, Parent and Family Resources, the Karon Veterans Resource Center, Innovation and Creativity, Club Sports, Orientation and Registration, the Dean of Students Office and the Center for Well-Being (which includes Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Health Promotion, Violence Prevention and Resiliency).
Though the position keeps Lange busy, she said that she loves it.
“I’ve been blessed to be here for 38 years,” Lange said, “I just feel very fortunate to be at the university.”
Recently, Lange has been a part of many conversations regarding the university’s growth since shifting to Division I.
“Last year was the highest number of students who have ever lived on campus,” Lange said, “This year is the second largest number of students living on campus.”
Between these years, one of the campus’ residence halls, Cretin Hall, was torn down.
Guaranteed first-year and sophomore on-campus housing remains a priority and will continue to be one as the university grows, Lange said.
“We would like to, at some point, build another residence hall,” Lange said, “We are trying to get through the arena first.”
Additionally, students can look forward to updates in residence halls in the coming academic years. These updates may include new paint jobs and furniture.
“We are in conversations right now. We are talking about Grace. We are talking about Morrison,” Lange said, “We are looking at everything to make sure we have it in the best shape.”
As the student body grows, Lange also discussed the efforts to make students feel welcome on campus whether they are in-state, out-of-state or international students.
“We had about 217 events in the last month,” Lange said, “It was mostly student affairs, but also athletics and clubs.”
Lange said it is hard to track how well of a job these events are doing at keeping students on campus on the weekends, but there has been positive feedback.
She also said it is important to keep in mind that students have different reasons as to why they chose the University of St. Thomas.
“We have to respect that some people come here so they can go home on the weekends,” Lange said.
Finance Updates
Thirty-one clubs requested funding, and all were approved. In total, USG granted $25,297 at a $50 per club member rate.
HOLA club requested $1,800 to fund a campus-wide event, which was approved.
The next general council meeting will be on Thursday, Oct. 24 at noon in the Al and Brenda Iversen Hearth room with guest speaker President Rob Vischer.
Cecilia Wallace can be reached at wall1238@stthomas.edu.