After serving for nine months on an interim basis, Jean Kim was appointed the first permanent vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life in over two years, according to an announcement made yesterday by the University of Massachusetts.

Kim was one of four final candidates vying for the position which oversees a variety of offices critical to student life including Housing Services, University Health Services, the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program and the Dean of Students Office, which also includes campus activities and the judicial program.

The post has not been permanently filled since Michael Gargano, Jr. left the University in Jan. 2008. There have since been two interim vice chancellors: Esther Terry, who served in the role for 17 months, and Kim, who began a one-year interim term last July.

According to prior interviews with University spokesman Tom Milligan, who was the chair of a 10-member committee established to conduct a nationwide search and then select the vice chancellor, the position is “the unit most responsible for building the best living and learning environment in partnership with academic affairs and the rest of campus.”

Kim is a UMass Amherst alumna who launched her career in student affairs at the University’s flagship campus in the mid-1970s. She has worked at seven universities and this will be Kim’s fifth tenure as the chief student affairs officer.

Chancellor Robert C. Holub announced the appointment Monday, citing Kim’s experience as a student affairs administrator and her “outstanding” performance as interim vice chancellor, according to a University press release.

“We are fortunate indeed to be able to look to someone not only who knows the challenges of this job, but who also has shown grace, leadership and vision in meeting those challenges in recent months,” said Holub in yesterday’s release.

Kim called her appointment “a true honor, and a vote of confidence for which I am extremely grateful.”

“The last nine months have been wonderfully engaging and rewarding for me,” said Kim in the release. “I can’t tell you how delighted I am to be able to continue the work we have begun and to continue to serve our students and this University. I find our students to be very thoughtful and a joy to work with.”

During her interim appointment the student affairs division worked to strengthen its managerial infrastructure, including the completion of a strategic plan and programmatic realignments; developing a campus-wide plan to enhance the first-year experience; planning for on-campus housing expansion; and increasing collaboration with academic colleagues on integrating the students’ living-learning experiences, she said in the release.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology at UMass Amherst in 1973, Kim served as a senior head of residence from 1974 to 1978 in John Quincy Adams Tower and assistant director of Southwest Residential College from 1978 to 1979. She also worked as assistant director of the Student Development and Counseling Center at UMass Amherst from 1979 to 1981. During those years, Kim completed a master’s degree in sociology and a doctorate in counseling psychology at UMass.

Subsequently, Kim served as director of student development at Western New England College in Springfield; assistant dean for graduate student affairs at Stanford University in Calif.; vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Hartford in Conn.; vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder; vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Puget Sound in Wash., and vice chancellor for student affairs at UMass Dartmouth, the release said.

Kim has also been an instructor at the UMass Amherst School of Education and the department of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was an adjunct faculty member in the business school at Western New England College.

Throughout her career, she has also been a consultant to corporations, higher education institutions and organizations on issues such as career development, multicultural workforce management, cross cultural communication, diversity training, strategic planning, team and leadership development and executive coaching, said the release.

Kim was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12. She is a first-generation college student, and a beneficiary of public higher education. She is the mother of two college-educated daughters, the release said.

The other final candidates for the post were Kevin E. Charles, assistant vice president for student and academic services at the University of New Hampshire, Margaret A. Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Michael R. Laliberte, vice president for student affairs at Boise State University in Idaho.

Matt Rocheleau can be reached at [email protected].