NEWS

Note: See URL listed below to download a photo of Jablonski.

Jablonski, Brown’s campus life dean, named
vice chancellor for student affairs

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Margaret A. Jablonski, a veteran student administrator and current dean for campus life at Brown University, has been appointed vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jablonski will start her new post Aug. 19th. Her appointment was approved today (May 27) by the UNC Board of Trustees.

"Dr. Margaret Jablonski brings with her a distinguished record of experience and student development leadership at excellent public and private campuses," said Chancellor James Moeser. "She has a strong vision for the role of a high-quality student experience at Carolina. I have every confidence in her ability to effectively lead a dedicated student affairs staff in serving our student body."

As vice chancellor, Jablonski will be the senior student affairs leader, working jointly with students, faculty and staff. She will head the Division of Student Affairs, which helps create and maintain a climate that fosters student learning and development while enhancing a strong sense of community for more than 26,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. She will oversee the development of policy, programs and services that promote learning both inside and outside the classroom.

Jablonski will succeed Interim Vice Chancellor Dr. Dean Bresciani, who has been serving in that role since Dr. Susan Kitchen stepped down in 2002. Bresciani will become Texas A&M University’s new vice president for student affairs.

Carolina’s student affairs division has about 300 employees and includes the Campus Y, career services, the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, counseling services, dean of students, disability services, Greek affairs, health services, housing and residential education, leadership development, new student programs and parent programs.

Jablonski will come to UNC after serving as dean for campus life at Brown since August 2001. She oversees several student life support service areas ranging from residence life to diversity initiatives to judicial. As dean, she has led efforts to reorganize student life and housing areas, redesign the non-academic discipline system and develop a student leadership program. She created and taught a first-year seminar on policy issues in higher education. She also put in place the process used to design and evaluate programs resulting from a $150,000 Hewlett Foundation grant promoting pluralism at Brown.

Previously, Jablonski spent two years as associate vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Connecticut. Highlights included co-leading a $14 million renovation of a new student services center and revising a student conduct code and related judicial processes. She also was on campuswide committees addressing such issues as master planning and multicultural education.

Jablonski was associate dean for undergraduate education and student affairs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she supervised numerous student affairs areas, from 1994 to 1997. She worked closely with faculty housemasters in residence halls and taught a first-year seminar on leadership. Her other posts have included assistant dean for residential services and director of housing at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; victim assistance program coordinator and assistant housing director at Boston University; and family housing coordinator and Greek affairs director at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst campus. She has been a sorority house director and is a certified mediator.

Her experience includes service as a visiting assistant professor at UMass-Amherst from 1997 to 1999, teaching courses on education policy, research and administration and coordinating the admissions process for the master’s degree program in higher education.

Jablonski has written or co-written several articles for professional or campus publications and is editor of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Journal, managing the online publication process and coordinating a 40-member review board. She has been on the journal’s editorial board since 1998 and has held several other national and regional posts for the association. She has made presentations and presented papers to numerous national professional groups. She was a faculty member in residence in June 2003 for the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International.

A native of Springfield, Mass., Jablonski holds a doctorate from Boston University. Her dissertation, which focused on the leadership styles of women college presidents, received awards from the university, the National Association for Women in Education and the Massachusetts College Personnel Association. She earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees from UMass-Amherst.

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/admin/jablonski_margaret.jpg

Contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu