Bryan Bain, dean of students, has been granted an indefinite leave of absence due to health reasons. In the meantime, his duties will be covered by a team in the student development department, consisting of Student Success and Engagement Coach Corey Roberson, Director of Student Athlete Development Leslie Laster, Director of Campus Security and Safety David Simon and Director of Residence Life Jim Bajczyk.

David Black, interim president, described the role of the dean of students to have two domains: strategic and functional. The strategic domain consists of representing the students and student life on campus, while discussing and implementing institutional plans regarding student success and involvement.

In terms of the functional domain, the dean acts as the chief officer for the branches of career services, activities and student life. All of these branches are under supervision by the dean. The dean is in charge of making decisions based on reports given by the head of the branches.

With Bain on leave, these branches will now report directly to Black until further notice.

Until Lakeland hears directly from Bain, the University will continue to handle his role as a team. There will be no plan to replace him until there is official word from Bain himself that he will not be returning.

When asked about the future of the student success and engagement program, Black responded, “We’ve always been committed to student development, whether the name of the department is student success or anything different.” He continued, “Students respond differently to different names for it but our focus is always on the lives of the students.”

The student success and engagement team is currently made up of Laster, Roberson and Mara Poullette, student success and engagement coach.