Believing in a Relational Approach and Getting to the Root of the Problem
S. Manai
Wearing an apron and gloves inside 1C this past Thursday, Vice President Thomas Tressler-Gelok was not tucked away in an administrative office or sitting behind a desk.
He was serving hot meals to students.
For CSI’s new Vice President for Student Affairs, moments like that are not separate from his job. They are part of how he believes it should be done.
Since arriving at CSI this summer, Tressler-Gelok has made visibility central to his approach, showing up at student events, walking around campus, visiting student organizations and talking directly with students. Whether that means serving food, stopping by WSIA or attending a Student Government meeting, he said being present allows him to better understand the people his office is supposed to serve.
“The heart of being a servant leader is understanding,” said Tressler-Gelok. “It is not about you; it is about the people that you serve and how you support them.”
That philosophy is at the center of what he hopes will become a larger transformation of student life at CSI.
Coming to CSI from Wagner, Tressler-Gelok entered the position with ideas about what could change, but he said his first months have largely been spent listening. Rather than arriving with a predetermined plan for campus life, he wants students to help determine what improvements should look like.
That approach can already be seen in conversations with Student Government about possible campus projects and amenities. He wants student input on everything from programming and campus furniture to larger questions about how spaces are used and how students spend their time between classes.
For him, involving students in those decisions does more than produce a better final result. It gives students ownership over their campus. One group successfully pushing an idea forward, he said, could encourage another student or organization to come forward with an idea of its own, gradually creating momentum for change.
Tressler-Gelok has heard one request particularly clearly: students want a more vibrant campus.
During his first months at CSI, he said he has found students eager for more events, activities and opportunities to connect with one another. He recalled walking around campus with Danny the Dolphin and watching students immediately stop to take pictures with the mascot. Similar enthusiasm, he said, has emerged around barbecues, food events and other activities that create places for students to gather.
Those interactions have helped shape his broader plans for the student experience at CSI.
VP Tressler-Gelok has developed a vision centered on three areas: transformative co-curricular opportunities, awareness and responsiveness to student needs, and an engaged and supportive campus environment. His first year will focus heavily on reviewing what Student Affairs currently offers, determining what students use and identifying processes or programs that can be improved.
Within a year, he hopes students will begin noticing a campus with more energy and more opportunities to spend time with other students, participate in events and find a community at CSI. In later years, he wants those initial changes to expand into a broader reworking of the student experience.
Rather than beginning with sweeping changes, his plan is to pursue smaller improvements while developing longer-term strategies.
“This is a campus that will be a case study in how we reinvent the student experience in higher education,” Tressler-Gelok said. “I really believe that. I think we can offer a premier experience here. You have the opportunity here to accelerate your life and your career.”
Part of that reinvention, he said, also requires changing how CSI talks about itself.
Tressler-Gelok believes the college could do more to showcase what students and organizations are already accomplishing. Instead of relying primarily on emails to advertise campus life, he wants Student Affairs to use more visual storytelling through social media, signs and displays around campus to highlight student organizations, successful programs and other examples of campus involvement.
He also sees CSI’s diversity as more than something for a college brochure. In his first months on campus, the Vice President said he has noticed students across ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, religions and life circumstances moving through the same campus while pursuing degrees on their own timelines.
What has stood out to him is the sense that many CSI students know why they are there. Some may be balancing school with work or family responsibilities, while others may have transferred between institutions or changed career paths before arriving at CSI. Their college experiences may look different, but he sees a commonality in students using CSI as a way to propel their lives forward.
His role, as he sees it, is to make the experience surrounding that education worth showing up for, and in return, he only asks for three things:
- Say hello and help build the culture here at CSI.
- Get involved in whatever capacity you can, whether that be attending an event on campus or being part of a student organization.
- Use your voice: If you see something, say something. It could be related to a campus issue or an experience you had.
“I want students to know that I am going to work to have a relationship with them where they can trust that we are here to help them have a premier experience,” Tressler-Gelok said. “And I hope that the students meet me halfway, to know that I value their input.”
