Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Brian Williams focuses on identifying opportunities to strengthen ties between students, faculty, recruiters and alumni during his first year on the job.

Brian N. Williams has joined the School of Engineering as assistant dean for student affairs. Williams directs the School's Office of Student Services and will develop and support programs designed to augment and enhance the academic experience of engineering undergraduates. Williams comes to Vanderbilt from a faculty position in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University, and he graciously made time recently to answer a few questions.

What led you to Vanderbilt?
My wife came to Vanderbilt to work as the assistant athletic director for Olympic Sports. With Vanderbilt's and the School of Engineering's focus on community building, I thought that this position would be a nice fit with my research and professional goals. I have an interest, much later in my career, in possibly serving as the president of a small college. I saw this as an opportunity to gain understanding of how students with different academic backgrounds than mine experience their college lives.

What have you been most excited about?
The vision. I feel that I have a tremendous opportunity-arriving with the new chancellor, a relatively new dean and other new people and new blood-to implement some new ideas. The chancellor's vision and the dean's vision complement each other, and like Associate Dean Overholser, I share that vision.
        And we have tremendous students here. At freshman orientation, Chancellor Gee spoke about several of the outstanding freshman here at Vanderbilt, and I was proud that some of the examples he used were of our freshman engineering students.
       I think that the new building will also address needs we have-as a place for students, faculty, staff members and recruiters to study, hear lectures, give presentations and even just socialize. In addition to the dean and the development staff, I'm so thankful that the graduates of this institution are willing to give back in a generous way-to help future engineering students get all that they can out of this experience.

What are your top goals?
Helping to add to the sense of community here. I also think a lot of engineering schools are concentrating on preparing engineering students not only for the profession of engineering, but also how to make sure that engineers stay engaged and active with the larger society, and that's something I bring to the table with my background and training. All engineers need to have an understanding that as engineers they are valuable and valued members of society, and that they are contributing pieces within the larger puzzle of life.

What have you focused on so far?
This year has been primarily an assessment time for me. I'm looking to the students and student leaders to teach me about their experiences and what their greatest needs are so that I can work with them to address those challenges.
       So far, I've been trying to introduce myself and address certain needs-especially during high stress periods. During the fall, we hosted "refreshments and registration" and a "study and snack" period during finals week.

Food helps to attract students...
That's right. The first day of the spring semester we had a "welcome-back snack"-just to make sure that things were going well, including the break during the holidays. And we're going to do the same thing around finals this semester-just to try to get students to come out, take a study break, get some nourishment and hang out a little bit. This will assist me in terms of my assessment and send a clear message to them that we care about them and wish them the best on their final exams.

What is your next goal?
I hope by the end of this term to have in place a student-leader banquet. This curriculum is such a rigorous one that I think that those students also willing to become involved in the governance of this school are outstanding people. I would like to have an opportunity to recognize them. I would love to have some of our graduates involved in this as well, as that would encourage and motivate those potential student leaders and create a network among past and present leaders. Every graduate is a part of our community, and I want to make sure that all of the various segments of our community know that they are valued and have a role to play.