Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta kicked off his summer this week by filling the first of three vacant student affairs positions.
Zoila Airall, director of institutional diversity at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, with whom Moneta worked at the University of Pennsylvania, was named the new assistant vice president of campus life. Moneta created the position last semester.
Under Moneta's restructuring of student affairs, Airall will coordinate student activities and oversee the Community Service Center, Multicultural Center, International House, Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, Women's Center and the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life.
"[Airall] will work with [the departments'] directors to really strengthen advising of student groups, help student groups with finding social space and finances and provide support for students," Moneta said.
Airall graduated from Rutgers University, received a master's degree in counseling from Columbia University, and engaged in doctoral study at the University of Pennsylvania.
"I'm very excited about the position," she said. "I met the people with whom I'm going to be working and they really made me feel like this is the place I really want to be. They're sharp and dedicated about their work."
Before assuming her current position at Bryn Mawr, Airall served as a high school guidance counselor, director of counseling at Bethany College in West Virginia and an associate director in residential living at Penn.
Moneta said his past working experience with Airall was coincidental, as an independent search committee narrowed an applicant pool of approximately 40 to 60 to four, from which Moneta ultimately selected Airall for her experience working with students.
"It will be [different] in terms of size and in terms of culture because there are men," Airall said of the move from Bryn Mawr, a small liberal arts, all-female undergraduate and co-educational graduate school. "In a way, though, it will be similar. Students at both Bryn Mawr and Duke are very bright and of the same age group."
Airall said highlights of her tenure at Bryn Mawr included the creation of a multicultural center, recruitment of a diverse faculty, and staff training for sexual harassment awareness.
Airall will take over her position Aug. 1. Moneta said he expects to fill the other two positions--director of residential life and housing services and director of the career center--over the summer.
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