Leading with Joy: Meet Carroll’s New Dean of Student Affairs

Lisa De Jesus recently became Carroll’s new Dean of Student Affairs, a role she is especially passionate about at a community college. In the following interview, she shares who she is, what she does, and words of wisdom for new students and employees.

Carefully identify people and activities that fill you with JOY and create life memories that include all the JOY your heart can stand!

Tell us a little about your background and what brought you to Carroll Community College?

I am the first and only sibling in my family to have graduated from a Title I high school in the South Bronx, NYC. Representing a traditionally underserved and marginalized Latino group of people, I feel a sense of responsibility and joy to serve others and help individuals achieve their academic goals.

I believe in the mission of community colleges. We serve all students, from diverse backgrounds, at different points in their lives by providing lifelong skills and a knowledge base that transcends “trends” and “buzzwords.” We, community colleges, educate and train entire communities for today’s immediate workforce needs while providing pathways to baccalaureate degrees and beyond!

I saw myself contributing to the continued success and growth of the Academic and Student Affairs teams and decided to share my gifts and talents with the Lynx College family last August!

What is your current role at the College, and what do your day-to-day responsibilities look like?

My official responsibility is to serve as Dean of Student Affairs. In this role I work alongside my team to identify potential barriers to student matriculation, progress, and success, and identify solutions to those barriers—whether perceived or real. To use an old gameshow analogy, I function as a “broker” of academic and student affairs services and programs with a goal of creating win-win-win situations for students, faculty, and communities.

How do you collaborate with other departments or teams to help achieve the College’s goals?

Active, creative, and transformative collaboration is essential to mission-fulfillment for the College. The past five months have been focused on getting to know my supervisor and team leads. I have been spending quality time listening, observing, asking important questions, and discerning “how do our daily activities impact students and staff, and how do we know that our good intentions contribute to the achievement of institutional goals?”

Is there something about you that might surprise your colleagues or students?

I would like to use the team activity “Two Truths and a Lie” to answer this question:

• I was a varsity tennis player in high school
• I was on the women’s volleyball team in undergrad
• I enjoy swimming in the ocean.

Some of my colleagues or students may be surprised to learn that I grew up on the island paradise of Puerto Rico, and do not know how to swim (yet). But there’s hope. I am looking for a patient, competent, and great coach!

If you could give one piece of advice to students or new employees, what would it be?

My advice to both would be, carefully identify people and activities that fill you with JOY and create life memories that include all the JOY your heart can stand! Particularly to students I’d say be curious, consistent, and disciplined in all positive endeavors that you choose to pursue in life. Two of my favorite quotes are, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing,” and “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”