Cheryl Steele was appointed dean of co-curricular life and vice president for student affairs at Sweet Briar College. She comes to Sweet Briar from Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, where she was associate dean of students since 1992.
As associate dean, she had direct responsibility for student advising (academic and personal), judicial affairs and more than 100 student organizations, as well as student government and class committees. In addition, she oversaw extracurricular program facilities and a wide range of College services.
Steele started at Kenyon in 1986 as assistant dean of students. She had previously served as director of student activities at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. She earned both her M.Ed. and B.S. from the University of Montevallo in Alabama.
New Dean of Co-Curricular Life Cheryl Steele.At Kenyon, Steele championed leadership programs as well as encouraged campus programming for women via the Crozier Center for Women. An articulate advocate for all students and for the value of a diverse student body, Steele brings to Sweet Briar more than 20 years of experience and a deep understanding of residential liberal arts colleges.
She believes strongly in institutions like Kenyon and Sweet Briar, both because of the value of such institutions as settings for student learning and development and also because, in her words, such a setting “offers unique opportunities for student life professionals to work closely with faculty and academic administration.”
Steele was selected from a very strong pool of candidates – a pool developed from more than 500 inquiries, a tribute to the strength of Sweet Briar’s co-curricular life program. The search committee was chaired by Dr. Linda Shank, and included Dean Jonathan Green, Dean Ken Huus, Kelly Morrison, Joan Lucy, Dr. Pam DeWeese, Katie Tipton ’08 and Emma Meador ’09.
Steele will reside on campus.
