Jimmy Howard has taken on the position of interim dean of students at the University of Oregon. The previous dean, Marcus Langford, left the university after seven years.
Howard has worked for the university for over six years. He worked for nearly three years as assistant dean of students for prevention and response and deputy Title IX coordinator from October 2018 to July 2021. Then, he became the associate dean of students from July 2021 to May 2024.
He is currently also deputy Title IX coordinator, but quickly took on the responsibilities of Langford’s previous position as the dean’s office is under adjustment.
“My home base role is the senior associate dean of students, so it only made sense for me to step into that leadership role, given some of my other responsibilities,” Howard said.
Along with Howard taking on this new role, UO also welcomed a new Vice President for Student Life, Angela Chong. Part of Howard’s role will be to act as a leader while all the changes occur within the department.
“With all those changes, we needed someone to step into the role and to assume some leadership over the Dean of Students office while Angela gets her footing and figures out how she’s going to lead the division,” Howard said.
Howard is taking on the position of interim dean for now, though the position is not permanent.
“It’s temporary, limited time. We aren’t sure how long it will be. That’s something that will be etched out once we continue to get a feel for how Angela’s going to move the division forward,” Howard said.
Before working at UO, Howard said he worked for just under a year as interim assistant director for strategic assessment at Oregon State University. He said he was drawn to UO because of its practices around sexual violence prevention.
“I think Oregon has some of the best practices around prevention work [and] around sexual violence prevention education. It was really attractive to work at a place that took this seriously and [that is] committed to providing services for students. Both preventative work, but also response work,” Howard said.
According to Howard, his job revolves around supporting students.
“I would say part of my responsibilities are just making sure that we respond to student crises, making sure that students who are in need get support and have a place that they can go for advocacy. We do basic needs, [including] supporting students around needs with finances, temporary housing needs, child care, textbook subsidies, and things like that,” Howard said.
Title IX is a federal law that works to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. Howard serves as a deputy Title IX coordinator.
“Our responsibility to students, particularly around sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, [is] making sure we have spaces that are safe for students. This includes their sex, their gender expression and other protected statuses related to Title IX,” Howard said.
The Office of the Dean of Students includes a large collection of projects and programs.
Howard said that his office is responsible for their collegiate recovery center, substance misuse and abuse prevention work and sexual violence prevention education work.
“Then we have our multicultural identity-based support services team that includes the women’s center, the black cultural center, LGBTQIA+ services, veterans services,” Howard said.
“[Our role] is helping students connect and get support based on the identities that they hold while they’re here with us,” he said.
Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Holden Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, CommUniversity and the Dean of Students Advisory Board fall under the dean’s office purview well.
“It’s a pretty broad portfolio, and then you have the classic student conduct piece as part of the portfolio, which helps students stay accountable to the student code and other university policies,” Howard said.
Howard said he feels that the university’s involvement in such a vast number of groups and programs is a very positive thing.
“I think having those services connected really gives us a combined mission and vision to just support students and connect the dots. It’s really nice to work with that broad of a portfolio with care and support in mind at all times,” Howard said.
Howard is also a member of Oregon’s Sexual Misconduct Survey Council and Oregon’s Racial Justice Council.
“I would say the one that’s the most connected [to my role at UO] is the Sexual Misconduct Survey group. I serve as one of the Title IX representatives in that group. That team is really dedicated to the climate on college campuses around sexual misconduct and sexual violence against students,” Howard said.
The goal of the Sexual Misconduct Survey Council is to “create a survey [for] the institutions so [they] understand what’s going on on the campuses from the students’ perspectives, but also that the student voice is captured there too in a way that I think is honest and real and also try to do little harm in the process of doing that survey,” Howard said.
This school year, Howard hopes to focus on connecting with students more than ever.
“We have a set of goals that we try to meet every year. The first is to make sure that we are going to be student-centered, so making sure that everything that we do centers the needs of students and student learning and student empowerment,” Howard said.
The members of the dean’s office hope that with their efforts throughout the year, students can feel like their individual needs matter.
“We don’t see students as a monolith, we see every individual student’s experience as something that matters,” Howard said.
Individually, Howard said he carries similar hopes and goals for himself for the school year.
“I work with lots of students, lots of community members, and my hope is to be a person that connects dots, but also provides more space for folks to meet their goals, get surprised by what they can accomplish and to continue to be a leader that listens to students, particularly while I’m in this role,” Howard said.