I am pleased to announce that Margaret Jablonski has been appointed Vice President for Student Affairs effective August 2, 2010.  Peggy has nearly 30 years experience in higher education and currently serves as the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the premier public universities in the United States.

At UNC-Chapel Hill, she oversees student life for approximately 17,500 undergraduate and 10,000 graduate students. Her areas of responsibility include housing and residential education, campus health services, counseling and wellness services, student judicial affairs, Greek life, the LGBTQ Center, disability services, the student union, new student and parent programs, campus recreation, career services, and leadership development.

Prior to joining UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004, Peggy served as Dean for Campus Life at Brown University, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Connecticut, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Assistant Dean for Residential Services at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her doctorate in education at Boston University.

During her career, Peggy has served on a number of senior policy making bodies at several universities addressing a full spectrum of student life issues, including budget, enrollment planning, master planning, health care policy, community relations and emergency preparedness. She has worked closely with various constituencies to develop fundraising strategies and designs for major campus facilities such as student and academic service centers, residence halls, campus recreation facilities and a campus health facility.

She also has served as a full-time faculty member at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and adjunct faculty on two other campuses. In addition, her service at the national level of the student affairs field for the past two decades has allowed her to become an effective advocate for higher education in Washington, D.C.

Peggy is passionate about working with students and advocating on their behalf. She possesses a deep understanding of the various groups that comprise the student population and has extensive expertise in working across departments to create avenues for student success. In particular, she helped develop programs to increase retention and address graduation rates at several of the universities with which she has been affiliated. She also has experience in planning capital construction projects to create additional living and learning spaces across campus.

Please join me in welcoming Peggy to the University of New Haven family.

Steven H. Kaplan