Dear Members of the SUNY Oswego Community,
With my profound appreciation and best wishes for the future, I announce the retirement of SUNY Oswego’s Assistant Vice President for Academic Support, Dr. Kathleen Evans ’84, effective July 5, 2023.
Kathy began her 34-year career at SUNY Oswego as the Assistant Dean of Students, responsible for New Student Orientation and Advisement, among other areas. Thirty-two of her 34 years were spent in Student Affairs, where she ultimately earned the title of Assistant Vice President. Her strong commitment to student development has been a hallmark of her career. Kathy was instrumental in developing and implementing the Johnson Hall First-Year Residential Program, which went on to receive the Noel-Levitz Retention Excellence Award; provided leadership and support for the development of First Year Advisement, including direct coordination and supervision of First Year Peer Advisement, which received Outstanding Institutional Advising Program Certificate of Merit from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) for First Year Advisement Program and provided leadership in the development of a career advising center (Compass) which was recognized as a best practice in The Handbook of Career Advising. She also received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service and the Outstanding First Year Advocate award from the National Resource Center on First Year Experience.
Kathy earned her Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Northeastern University. Her dissertation topic was Exploring Strategies that Create a Culture of Assessment in Student Affairs, which she promptly put into action at SUNY Oswego, where she guided the division to create a “culture of assessment” working to strengthen its mission, vision, annual goals, outcomes, and assessment plan. Evans often presented on the topic at the campus level, at SUNY-sponsored conferences, and several times at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) conference.
In 2021, Kathy transitioned to Academic Affairs as the Assistant Vice President for Academic Support, spearheading projects such as the implementation of the campus “Ozbot,” a text-bot system using artificial intelligence to deploy retention intervention campaigns to students, leading SUNY Oswego as one of only fifteen institutions nationwide to participate in the initial cohort of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) two-year Transformation Accelerator, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help achieve student success goals and close equity gaps for Black, Latinx, Indigenous and low-income students. In addition, Evans is working with a small group of SUNY Oswego administrators to put together a proposal for the highly competitive U.S. Department of Education Title III grant intended to help eligible higher education institutions expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability. She also helped develop the coursework for the college’s new master’s in higher education leadership program and serves as the interim program coordinator.
Kathy has always been actively engaged with students, faculty, and staff, attended various campus events as a proud employee and alumnus of SUNY Oswego, and has also been an active member of the Oswego Alumni Association, currently serving on the Board of Directors as First Vice President.
Please join us in thanking Dr. Kathleen Evans for her contributions to the SUNY Oswego community over the past 34 years and wishing her all the best throughout her retirement. A formal retirement reception to celebrate Kathy Evans will be held on Tuesday, May 9, at “The Space,” in the Marano Campus Center, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Regards,
Scott Furlong
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs