Chris Shemanski, former Assistant Director of Undergraduate Student Life, has embarked on a new journey as the Assistant Director of Core Engineering in the Schafer School of Engineering and Science (SES). January 27, 2022 was Shemanski’s final day as a member of the Undergraduate Student Life team.
Shemanski worked for the Office of Student Life for the past eight years and explained in an interview he genuinely feels like a Stevens duck; he believes whole-heartedly in the Stevens experience. In his previous role, he oversaw many programmatic areas such as the New Student Programs, Leadership and Service programs, as well as supporting many of our professional and service-oriented organizations. The Peer Leader program is one of Shemanski’s initiatives that has gained a lot of traction amongst the students, as well as within Student Life.
“One of my proudest moments at Stevens thus far during my time in Student Life was being a part of a team of colleagues who helped develop the Peer Leader Program,” Shemanski said. The program began in 2018 when the Office of Undergraduate Student Life partnered with the Office of Undergraduate Academics. The Peer Leader program was formerly broken into two groups:the Peer Mentor program and the Orientation Leader program. The former was established out of the Office of Undergraduate Academics and focused more on academia, and the latter operated out of the Office of Student Life and had a mission for guiding students in their transition through college and helping them to feel at home. The combination of the two teams was designed to “assist students in their academic and social adjustment into college. As someone who is deeply passionate about supporting students prior to and during their academic career, the Peer Leader Program serves an important function on our campus especially for students in their first-year,” Shemanski said. The program not only benefits the incoming class, but also serves as a valuable leadership experience for current students. Peer Leader applications will be open February 8 through February 28 for students who are interested.
While he has thoroughly enjoyed his time in Student Life, Shemanski is excited to support students in a more academic way. At Student Life, he focused on supporting students to develop a sense of belonging and purpose at Stevens. Now he is shifting gears to support student learning in the classroom within their respective disciplines and curriculum. His role is new within SES, as the Assistant Director of Core Engineering Education he will be responsible for supporting instructional delivery, student registration and scheduling logistics, and collecting data of all core courses in the undergraduate engineering and science programs. He will also collaborate on special projects within SES, like the annual Innovation Expo.
Currently, the Assistant Director of Student Life position that Shemanski left is vacant, but Dr. Leo Pedraza, Assistant Dean of Student Life, and the Student Life team are searching for a candidate to fulfill the role in the coming days.
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