As of January 5, former Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Greek Life Tim Mansfield moved from McGregory Hall to Merrill House as he took on a new role as Colgate’s Director of Alumni Affairs.

For the past eight years, Mansfield has worked in both Residential Life and Leadership Development at Colgate. He served as Director of Greek Life from 2006 to 2008, during which time he worked to build better lines of communication between Greek-affiliated students, alumni and the administration. The position of Director of Greek Life was created the same year he took it on.

“The University needed to develop a position to oversee Greek life,” Mansfield said. “The undergraduates were not happy with the level of support, direction and advising they were getting from the administration, so I worked to give them that support and to get people talking together about the sensitive and important issues.”

Mansfield feels that the animosity between the Greek system and the administration has been put to rest over the past few years, and that Greek Life has become more prominent on campus, so his duties of reassuring and connecting the dots, as he put it, are no longer pressing.

“It is now time to advance the system in a more progressive way,” he said. “I am not an expert on Greek life, so we need somebody to come in who can think critically and really work with students to rebuild the system.”

This new person has not yet been found, but Colgate will be conducting a national search for a new Director of Greek Life this spring. While the current economic situation has taken a toll on the number of administrative hires Colgate is able to make, this position has been indentified as a priority and should be filled within this academic year.

In the meantime, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Scott Brown and Assistant Director of Residential Education and Greek House Initiatives Rick McClendon will be overseeing the structure and functions of the Greek system.

“Scott will really take the reigns and oversee the system at large, while Rick will work on the day-to-day student advising level,” Mansfield said.

One of McClendon’s roles will be heading up the Greek Life Advisory Council, or GLAC, which is comprised of both fraternity and sorority members interested in strengthening the Greek system.

Brown said he has a lot of interest in Greek Life, and he is happy to have direct involvement with the system.

“I am inheriting this interim position with Greek life at a time when it is in good shape,” Brown said. “There is definitely a lot of momentum for the future.”

Although Mansfield said that he will miss working closely with students as Director of Greek life, he is thrilled about his new position and the work it entails.

“I felt a lot of tension working in Greek life,” Mansfield said. “I am not encouraging the idea that if a job gets tough you pack up and move on out of exhaustion, but I found this opportunity to be a new and exciting way to serve Colgate. I really enjoy working with the community and the great staff here.”

With regards to Mansfield’s new position, he said that his duties as Director of Alumni Affairs will be two-fold.

“My first job is to find ways to fully inform and engage 30,000 alumni about what is going on at Colgate,” Mansfield said. “With programs such as Linked In and Facebook, I know there is a lot of potential for growth in virtual engagement between Colgate students and alumni who live nationally and internationally.”

Mansfield is also responsible for encouraging alumni to give back to their alma mater by donating their time and money.

“I truly care about Colgate and I know enough about the school to inform alumni and parents so they can give gifts comfortably,” he said. “It is hard to fundraise in times like these, but it is critically important that we do so. I believe we are led by an outstanding president, that we do amazing things here and that we will continue to grow and set ourselves apart. The alumni base is a benchmark of Colgate that I am thrilled to work with and support.”

Brown said he thinks that Mansfield’s new role will be really beneficial for Colgate.

“We couldn’t have fared better,” he said. “Tim has done a remarkable amount to help students and faculty in the past. He is a capable person with a lot of integrity, and he has built up a lot of good will in a short amount of time. He is really a wonderful colleague.”

Furthermore, Mansfield does not think his new line of work will mean leaving Colgate students behind.

“My new position will still allow me to impact undergraduates in important ways,” he said.