The university is searching for a new vice president for student experience, success and belonging after Amber Smith left the role on April 4, according to an email from the president on March 6.
In her farewell email, Smith said she began her journey at UIndy in January 2020. According to Singh’s email, Smith accomplished a variety of initiatives and programs during her five years at the university: establishing the Inclusive Excellence Strategic Leadership Coalition, creating the Intercultural Engagement Center, guiding the launch of the NO LIE (No Longer Invisible Experience) initiative and many others.
In her stead, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Rob Williford now performs as Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. Williford worked under Smith during her two years officially in the Office of Student Affairs role, and said he was mentored by her and grateful to have learned so much. However, Williford is not the only person she mentored during her time here. Senior graphic design major Kivonte Williams said he was mentored by Smith as well, meeting her when the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Retention Strategy was still called the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
For Williams, he said Smith was integral in helping him get more involved on campus after visiting OIE and eventually spearheading an academic meeting for him to switch his major. That is just the person she is, he said.
“She’s someone that she’ll ensure that she uses the resources that she has to make somebody else’s journey easier,” Williams said. “And that’s something that stayed consistent throughout me knowing her and my experience at the university.”
When it comes to resources, Smith had many avenues to aid people, especially since many different departments communicated with her, Williford said. Among those departments were disability services, the counseling center, Residence Life, student conduct, Title IX and more. Her role as vice president for student experience, success and belonging was in charge of creating a strategy geared towards student inclusion, and her primary goal was retention, Williford said.
“She really oversaw the high-level, strategic planning of the division, ” Williford said. “… She would oversee each of those areas, and her job really was to ensure that we were aligning our actions with the strategic priorities that she sets forth, which for the last two years has been increasing retention: fall-to-fall retention and fall-to-spring retention.”
According to Singh’s email, the university has seen a 10% increase in retention since Fall 2023, which she attributed to the work of Smith. Smith said in her email that the retention is thanks to the work of the university community coming together to create great things. However, a lot of this work is behind the scenes, Williford said.
“I wish folks could see and know more intimately how much we are working behind the scenes to give people the best experience that we can with the resources that we have,” Williford said. “And it really is a puzzle. I mean, it’s like every area has different wants and needs and desires, and every area wants to do well. … But the more grace that we can have, and the more willingness to not just voice concern, but to be a part of the solution — it’s going to help all of us.”
In order for students to be a part of the solution, Williford said that coming to the Student Affairs office is a starting point, but working with other students and going to the Student Government Association, another initiative Smith brought to life, is a way to ensure students get heard easier. Beyond all the physical things she left behind, Williams said she left an ideal: possibility.
“… What she is leaving is a possibility, a possibility for things to develop and not look the way they are now,” Williams said. “For example, when I first came in as a freshman in 2020 that second floor didn’t look how it looks now. It’s often hard to have that thought process because you feel the way things are right now or the way they’re going to be forever, but that’s not the case. And that’s something that she’s leaving, … things have the possibility of being better.”
Williford said the search for Smith’s replacement has already begun with a committee formed by the president as soon as Smith announced her departure. He said the committee is reviewing the applicants with a quick timeline, and hopes to find someone new by July 1.
