In February, NIU welcomed a new assistant vice president for Student Affairs, Dr. Rachel Boldman.
While Dr. Boldman might be new to working at NIU, she is an experienced professional and a December 2022 graduate of our Ed.D. in Higher Education Executive Weekend Cohort program.
Like most student affairs professionals, Dr. Boldman didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a college administrator. She originally enrolled at Stetson University in Florida as a music major, but quickly became involved with its student activities board and attended a National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) conference and started to think about higher education as a career.
After undergraduate experiences as an RA and a full-time admissions representative for the school of music, she obtained her master’s degree in counseling and worked in various human services roles.
Regardless of her job title, she shared that, “My career aspirations have always been to help others be better versions of themselves; to help them do what they love to the best of their abilities. I can see that theme through my various professional experiences, especially in my work with students and as a supervisor.”
As she continued advancing as an administrator, she began to consider doctoral programs, and “was primarily interested in a couple of things: the faculty’s research interests, and the institution and program’s view of diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. NIU’s interweaving of these into the program were a definite plus for me.” In addition, “the structure of the program, which supports working individuals, was very important to me as well.”
One of the best parts of the program for Dr. Boldman was the supportive relationships that she built with her fellow cohort members. Their experience was unique in that they started in Fall 2019, briefly meeting in person, before going virtual. She urges individuals to “take advantage of every opportunity to connect with your cohort: group papers, projects, reviewing each others’ writing. Your connections will sustain you in difficult times and celebrate with you in exciting times. And they just might be the person who passes along the posting for your next amazing career opportunity!”
When asked about what she is most looking forard to about her new role, Dr. Boldman says, “There is so much to look forward to about this new role! I am looking forward to getting to know the NIU community – faculty, staff and students – and hearing from their perspective what it means to be a Huskie and embrace NIU’s mission and values. As a first-generation student of sorts (I always qualify this because I do have one parent who went to college later in life; however, that parent did not participate in my college admission, selection or experience), I had many missteps and stumbles in my journey (undergraduate AND graduate!) because processes and procedures were not set up for those of us who didn’t know ‘how to college.’ Faculty and staff were an important guiding and stabilizing presence in my life, and I always want to foster that steady presence for students I, or staff I supervise, interact with. So, I am probably most excited to jump into the work of serving students and contributing to the culture of care that is growing and thriving at NIU.”
