Describe briefly what you do and how long have you been at Brown.
My name is Caitlin O’Neill and I’m the Assistant Director of the LGBTQ Center. I’ve been at Brown for almost a year now. I started back in December of 2019 and it’s been quite the journey since then, but I’m happy to be at Brown and blown away by the support I’ve received from folks in Campus Life and equally as blown away at the connections I’ve been able to make with students, staff, and faculty across the university.
As a division, we have been creating and continue to create spaces for students and colleagues to support each other as well as to take up issues of equity and inclusion.
We write to share very sad news. We received word recently from the family of Milan Samardjiski, Class of 2023 that he had died unexpectedly. Milan was at home with his family in Macedonia.
The Search Committee met through the spring semester and has continued to meet this summer with the goal of developing an initial draft of a job description for the BCSC Director based on the listening sessions this spring and developing a plan moving forward for the search and hiring process given the evolving significant impact of the pandemic.
The under-construction center and residence hall on Brook Street in Providence remains on track to bring the University’s health and wellness programs under one roof as early as Spring 2021. View full article
Inspired by the unprecedented show of unity among New York’s Division I men’s and women’s basketball coaches, 45 men’s and women’s basketball coaches at 23 Division I schools across New England have come together to form TEAM NEW ENGLAND. As part of the team, each coach will use his or her social media platform to share public health guidelines with their audience in an effort to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Fans can follow the #TEAMNEWENGLAND hashtag on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Read article
When working from home, it's imperative to create boundaries and self-care rituals to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
When your living space is also your working space, it's particularly easy to fall into the bad habit of never turning off — and that's not ideal for your mental or physical well-being.
Here are some self-care tips:
We hope this finds you well considering the challenging circumstances. We are so sorry for the ongoing disruption to your semester and the stress that it has caused. It’s heartbreaking and we’ve had to make some of the most challenging decisions of our careers in recent days. At the same time, we also really appreciate and value the acts of kindness and generosity we’ve witnessed that make us grateful to be a part of a caring community. It’s not easy, but we want you to know that Campus Life continues to work hard to support all of you.
We are writing with important information about COVID-19 and implications for the Brown campus community. Unfortunately, the situation around the country and at Brown is becoming more difficult each day. The University has learned that yesterday, for the first time, a member of our community tested positive for novel coronavirus. Brown students and employees who were in contact with the diagnosed individual have been notified directly by the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), which provides guidance on health considerations and quarantine.
As the impact of novel coronavirus continues to escalate, we know this is a tremendously challenging time for families - both for your students at Brown and for all of you as well. Our foremost concern is the health and well-being of our entire University community, and we continue to follow the guidance of medical experts on and beyond campus.
We know that the news that Brown is transitioning to remote learning raises many questions for students. The health and wellbeing of our students remains a top priority as Brown responds to this worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and we understand that this period of transition to remote learning may be stressful.
We are delighted to announce that Sean Thompson will be joining us on Monday, March 30 as the inaugural Program Director for Orientation and First Year Experience. Sean currently serves as the Director of New Student and Family Programs at University of Massachusetts Boston where he leads an orientation program for 2,400 new students and supervises a Program Assistant, Graduate Intern, and 27 orientation staff members.
I am happy to announce that David (Dave) Cavallaro will be joining the Office of Residential Life operations team Monday, March 9th as the Assistant Director of Administrative Operations. Dave will be responsible for housing processes relating to occupancy management; room selection/assignments; commencement and reunion housing; and occupancy management reporting.
We have two important updates on the progress of the search for the next Director of the Brown Center for Students of Color - one regarding the significant and meaningful feedback gathered from the listening sessions, and the other on the search timeline.
We are pleased to announce the full search committee for the BCSC Director search. We want to thank all those who helped nominate students and students who self-nominated through a range of access points. Because we received a significant number of strong nominations, our desire to be as representative as possible on a search committee with limited membership, and recently expressed desire for there to be alumni on the committee, we have decided to expand the committee slightly from 8 to 10 members. This enabled us to include three alumni with connections to the BCSC (two more recent graduates - one staff from the class of ’12, one student - now graduate student - from the class of ’19, and a staff member who was a graduate student here earning her Ph.D.).
It with great pleasure and excitement that I write to share the good news that Imam Dr. Amir Toft accepted our invitation to join the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life as Associate Chaplain for the Muslim community effective July 1, 2020. I am deeply indebted to everyone who assisted in the process and most especially to all of the members of the search committee for their extraordinary service and patience with a long but rewarding process.
The BCSC is an important resource for the Brown community especially students and thus we feel it is important for students to hold the majority constituency of the eight-member committee, with a compositional makeup of three undergraduate students and one graduate student.
We are writing to share with you that we are beginning a new search for the next Director of the Brown Center for Students of Color (BCSC). The BCSC is an important resource for the community, especially students at Brown and beyond campus, and thus we feel it is important to inform various constituencies of the start of this search. We are pleased to share this news and look forward to working with you throughout the semester during this process.
A first in the country and built from the ground up by students, Brown University’s Transformative Justice Program addresses harm on campus without relying on the punitive legal system.
Avon High graduate Kia McNeill, the head coach of the Brown University women’s soccer team, was unanimously named the Ivy League Coach of the Year, the league announced Wednesday. McNeill earned Coach of the Year honors for the first time in her fourth year at Brown. McNeill led the Bears to its first Ivy League title since 1994. Her squad posted a program-record for wins in a season (14) and finished 14-1-2 overall with a 6-0-1 mark in league play. The Bears were ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation during the season. Read More
At Brown’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, President Christina H. Paxson announced plans for increased financial aid for student veterans, need-blind and test-optional admission policies and new partnerships to increase the number of veterans at Brown. Read More
The Brown University women’s soccer team will host Monmouth University in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Division I championship on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Stevenson-Pincince Field. The Bears will make their seventh appearance all-time in the NCAA championship and first appearance since 1994. Brown earned a berth into the tournament after winning the Ivy League title for the first time since 1994. Read More
Koren Bakkegard will join the Division of Campus Life on August 1st as the Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students. In her role she will oversee four important departments (Residential Life, Student Conduct and Community Standards, Student Support Services, and Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center and Student Activities) for building community with students as well as many of the resources and processes that support students in need and crisis.
At the Undergraduate Council of Students’ Wednesday general body meeting, Assistant Director for Community Dialogue and Campus Engagement Marc Peters spoke about the search for a program coordinator to develop and implement transformative justice models for conflict resolution. Read More
A revised version of the University’s “Helping a Student in Distress” website launched earlier this month, which aims to be more accessible for students experiencing mental health issues and peers hoping to help them, according to an announcement from the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life. Read More
With investments in coaching staff, facilities, recruiting and more, the BrownTogether campaign is significantly advancing the University’s goal of amplifying the scholar-athlete experience. Read More.
With generous support from the family of Duncan MacMillan and from Barry Sternlicht and Mimi Reichert Sternlicht, and with architect selection underway, the University’s vision for an integrated, state-of-the-art health and wellness center and residence hall is on a path toward realization. Read More.
Garrett Robinson is a senior at Brown University, and a running back for the Brown Bears. Late last month, he co-led a mandatory training for freshman players, but it wasn’t about their skills on the football field. Read more.
Hunter, the University’s first associate director of athletics for diversity and inclusion initiatives, will develop and implement programs focused on Brown athletics and student-athletes. Read More
INDIANAPOLIS--- Brown Director of Athletics Jack Hayes has been named chair of the Division I Men's Lacrosse Committee for the 2018-19 season. Read More
Brown Emergency Medical Services launched as a student club in 1978 — 40 years later, it is a full-fledged, 24-7 emergency medical response service with student volunteers still comprising its core. Read More
Last month, Nicole Truesdell began her tenure as the new assistant vice president for campus life. In this role, Truesdell will provide “leadership and strategic planning for the division of campus life” in addition to implementing initiatives that ensure “the division and (the) University are attune to and responsive to the diversity of Brown’s student population,” Eric Estes, vice president for campus life, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Read More
Four-part series addresses issues affecting Brown students’ mental health, encourages mindfulness. Counseling and Psychological Services will offer four new workshops through their new project, called Wellness Life Hacks this semester. The program — which will begin on Jan. 30 and end on May 1 — is open to all students and covers a variety of issues affecting students at Brown, such as sleep deprivation and burnout prevention. Read More.
Dinner hosted by Office of the Chaplains fosters inter-faith conversations among students. Interfaith dinners hosted by the Office of the Chaplains play a part in this. Tuesday night, several religious groups on campus got together for interfaith dinner on the fourth floor of J. Walter Wilson to discuss social justice, their religious lives and where they intersect. While this was only the second interfaith dinner of the semester, Rabbi Michelle Dardashti hopes it will lead to the “resurrection of an interfaith council.” Read More.
Veterans part of RUE program grapple with finding community on campus. Every time Tristan Hood ’18 or Joel Fudge ’21 go out to eat, they make sure to find seats facing the door. “It’s an awareness thing,” Hood said. Hood and Fudge are two of the 18 undergraduate student veterans at Brown, and they move through campus more attentively than most. Fudge also said he has also had to adjust to the University’s timeliness — or lack thereof. “One of the harder things for me is that nothing is on time,” Fudge said. “In the military, you are not late. You are 15 minutes early, and you are five minutes early to your 15 minutes early.” Read More.
As assistant vice president and executive director of health and wellness, Brown-trained physician and master’s alumna, and longtime Wellesley College health services director will oversee all medical and mental health services for students. Read More
Initiatives address student concerns, restructure department leadership, highlight staff diversity. During shopping period this semester, for the first time, Counseling and Psychological Services allowed students to meet with therapists without scheduling an appointment beforehand, said Will Meek, director of CAPS. The availability for walk-in appointments during shopping period is just one of a series of new initiatives and policies intended to improve the quality of mental healthcare on campus. Read More.
Selected from a national pool of applicants by students and administrators in April, Julio Reyes ’12 began his work as the inaugural program director of the First-Generation College and Low-Income Student Center June 15. In his role as program director, Reyes has been tasked with developing a strategic plan for the center that will support both undocumented students — including individuals enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — and students from first-generation or low-income backgrounds, The Herald previously reported. Read More
In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Brown’s president, provost and campus life vice president commit to doing everything legally possible to protect students, faculty and staff. Learn More
