One of the finalists for Cal State Long Beach’s vice president of student services position, Beth Hellwig, said at an open forum on campus Monday that she wants to reach out to students.
“If I were offered, this position would be to reach out to all the [student affairs departments] to have a dialogue,” Hellwig said.
The open forum, which no students attended, marks the first of four individual forums to be held with the other finalists on campus through Tuesday, April 29.
Hellwig, who has more than 30 years of experience and is currently the vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, said she is mostly concerned with connecting first-generation college students and commuter students to the campus.
She mentioned some programs she would like to implement on campus, including summer programs for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and bundle classes, which would link two classes together and allow students to create more connections with one another.
At the forum, an audience member asked her how CSULB’s student affairs mission statement could be improved.
When Hellwig asked the audience, which consisted of student affairs staff, if they could tell her what the department’s mission statement is, no one knew it.
“We need to start by knowing what it is,” she said.
Another thing that Hellwig wants to create is a better connection between American students and international ones.
“Higher education is a chance for students to learn from international students … and open eyes of American students to help international students who do not know anyone,” Hellwig said.
She also mentioned the possibility of a career connections day, during which students would spend a day with someone in their intended profession.
Hellwig, who grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., was the first in her family to attend college.
The next forum will be held with William E. Hudson Jr., vice president for student affairs at Florida A&M University, on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Karl Anatol Center located in the Academic Services building.