Dear Pitzer Community:
I write to inform you that Mike Segawa, Vice President of Student Affairs will be leaving Pitzer College effective May 30. Mike has been with Pitzer since 2018. We are indeed privileged to have Mike lead our student affairs office and to lend his steady hand to many of our major initiatives. Mike was a member of our successful Accreditation Review Committee, the nimble Strategic Planning Committee and most recently, our hard-working COVID-19 Task Force. His leadership of the Student Affairs Office has seen the development of our popular Strive 2 Thrive program, a Pitzer College health and wellness campaign to focus on awareness, education and support by engaging students in the ongoing conversation of self-care, wellness, stress management and other important topics in order to empower students to take care of themselves in proactive, meaningful ways. Mike is a great mentor who has supported a strong and resourceful staff of student affairs professionals. Students found Mike to be an open and caring person who helped students to solve a myriad of problems, often by finding and supporting the strength that they had within. When it required resources, Mike often found them and pointed our students towards them. Thank you, Mike, for your gift of being an important part of our campus for such a critical period of our existence.
One of the goals of Mike as our Vice President of Student Affairs was to prepare the unit for a successful transition to new leadership upon his departure. Towards that end, I am pleased to announce that I am appointing Dr. Sandra (Sandy) Vasquez Interim Vice President of Student Affairs effective March 1, 2021. Mike has kindly agreed to spend the remainder of his time here working with Sandy as a Senior Consultant to orient her to this new role. I anticipate that Sandy will assume the Vice President role upon Mike’s departure.
Many of you know the great work that Sandy has done as our Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students. She is omnipresent on our campus, working with student groups nearly around the clock. She is a dedicated advocate and supporter of our students, and has worked tirelessly to give voice to our students of color and first-generation students. She initiated the new Dean’s Newsletter, assisted with the development of the Strive 2 Thrive program, established a cross-divisional student success advisory group, worked with our campus community to develop a strong set of protocols and the “Mindful of Each Other” student code of conduct during Covid-19, as well as working to see that low-income and housing challenged students are adequately supported during the virtual semesters we have had.
Please join me in wishing Mike well in his next phase of life and congratulations to Sandy as she takes on this important leadership role. Hopefully when we are all present we will have an opportunity to honor each of them.
Provida Futuri,
Melvin L. Oliver
President
