Assistant Director of Student Activities Bryan Bristol will be leaving Longwood University on Nov. 26 to take up the position as a Hall Director at the University of Michigan.
Bristol began working in his position in June 2012, as an advisor to Lancer Productions. Bristol will begin his position at the University of Michigan on Dec. 2.
Bristol earned his Bachelor’s Degree at Arkansas State University, majoring in public relations and minoring in political science. He earned his Master’s Degree in College Student Personnel Administration at Illinois State University.
Bristol’s position at Longwood University was the first position he held after attending graduate school.
He explained his initial interest in coming to Longwood University, describing his position as a “cool, unique hybrid position that allowed me to work with fraternity and sorority life and programming.”
Bristol stated that he had participated in Greek life and programming during his undergraduate and graduate years, which added to his interest in the position.
He added, “The other thing about Farmville that really made me want to come over here is how nice everybody was, how great of an environment it was, how much the students cared about their leadership and cared about their involvement and that’s kind of unique in many places.”
Bristol said that his position helped him professionally, stating, “I think Longwood provides a very unique experience for professionals because students are so empowered ... I think what I really learned from Longwood was that when students are in power they can achieve such great things, and that allows you to really focus on the [professionalism] of the student and moving them to a new level.”
When Bristol began in his position, his two main goals included empowering Lancer Productions and making programming more important on campus.
Describing Lancer Productions, he said, “They weren’t making their own decisions as a student organization, so that was one of my main goals was getting them to a point where they could start making their own decisions, managing their own budget, managing their own programming and getting the experience out of it that they should be getting.”
He describes his leadership style as “hands off.”
Director of the University Center and Student Activities Susan Sullivan described Bristol, saying, “He definitely has a passion for working with the students.” She later added, “He really tries to give them the skills and the tools that they need in order to provide programming for our students.”
Bristol said, “I was always really involved as a student, and I think it’s an important part of collegiate success is learning those skills outside of the classroom and honing those, and student involvement gives you a really good opportunity to practice what you’re learning in class and connect that to employers.”
He said that his interest in working at the University of Michigan was that he hopes to earn his PhD. there, that he wishes to work at a bigger institution and that he missed the Midwest.
The search process for a new Assistant Director of Student Activities will begin January 2014 with the hope to have the position filled by May 2014. During that time, Sullivan will serve as the interim and advisor for Lancer Productions.
When Sullivan begins advising Lancer Productions, she plans to meet each of the members of the executive board to see their goals and hopes for the organization.
She said, “I’m excited to work with them.”
For the next candidate to fill the position, Sullivan stated that she will be looking for a candidate who has experience with programming, who will be able to stay at the university for a number of years and who can bring experience and energy to the student body. She also hopes to have the candidate work with building publicity, marketing and membership of Lancer Productions.
The position for Assistant Director of Student Activities initially included working as a liaison for the Greek chapters on campus. However, this responsibility has fallen under the duties of Associate Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life Wolfgang Acevedo and Assistant Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life Andrea Martinez since their hiring. Because of this, the new candidate will focus primarily on working with Lancer Productions.
Bristol said, “I really enjoyed my time here. It’s been so great for me developmentally. The students are great, and in fact, I’m sad to be leaving the students. The students are very special and very unique in an awesome way. They care about Longwood so much, and they care about their experience. I think when students care ... they get the most out of their experience.”
For the future of Lancer Productions, Bristol said, “I think Lancer Productions can only get better. I think we’re going to be seeing bigger and better programming coming. I think you’re going to be seeing even more visibility, and I think there is going to be an upswing on the name.”
He added, “I think the next person coming [into] my position will be coming into a good position with students who are passionate and kind of just have to guide them along the way.”
Sullivan stated, “We will definitely miss him. I think this position will be a good position for him. ... We will miss him, but in this field, you always stay connected. I’m sure that we will see him again, and then we’ll move forward and hopefully have a new person in this position come sometime in May, if all goes well."
