Senior Vice President Jean Eddy headed to Rhode Island School of Design

Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean C. Eddy, a leader for the last decade in making dramatic improvements to the admissions process and the quality of student life, will leave Brandeis at the end of September to become Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment at the Rhode Island School of Design, a nationally-recognized leader in arts and design education.

President Jehuda Reinharz announced Eddy's departure in a campus-wide email today.

"The Brandeis community owes Jean enormous gratitude for improving Admissions, assembling first-rate staff, improving the academic quality of incoming classes, and enhancing our student-life experience. This spring we saw an all-time record number of applicants to Brandeis, which is a credit to Jean and her team," said the president.

"Jean can also take pride in building a diverse student body, fashioning a competitive athletics program, and selecting students who really want to be at Brandeis. Her efforts are reflected in high levels of student satisfaction," he added.

"I am pleased for Jean that she has found such an exciting new challenge, and I know RISD will benefit a great deal from her leadership," he said. "I will miss working with Jean. She has been a great member of my team and helped propel Brandeis to new heights."

This summer, Eddy successfully completed the recruitment of a new Dean of Admissions, Mark D. Spencer, who starts Sept. 1 after serving as Director of Admissions for the College of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.  "During the last year, Jean served as Dean of Admissions in addition to her regular duties and has done two jobs better than most people can do one," said the president.

Eddy, who was born in Providence, R.I., said her appointment at RISD "is a great opportunity at a premier institution. As a native Rhode Islander, I do feel like I'm going home. Leaving is bittersweet and Brandeis will always be a part of me. I love the students here and I have been blessed to work with staff that is truly second to none. Brandeis is in a great place right now. I look forward to hearing about the next great things."

Eddy's responsibilities at RISD will be similar to those she has at Brandeis and will include oversight and leadership of all Admissions, Financial Aid, and Student Affairs functions, reporting directly to President John Maeda.

"Jean is a recognized leader in the field of enrollment management and the complete student experience," said Maeda in his message to the RISD community. "The new organization she will lead places a broadened priority on our incoming and current students at the highest levels of my administration, and will help RISD to remain the leader in arts and design education in the 21st Century."

Prior to coming to Brandeis, Eddy worked for 11 years at Northeastern University in Boston in several positions, including Director of Financial Aid, Dean of Enrollment, and Vice President for Enrollment Management. Eddy has served as president of both the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Associations of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and is currently a director on the American Student Assistance Board. She holds degrees in Public Administration and Computer Science.

President Reinharz said in the next few weeks he and President-elect Fred Lawrence will begin the search for Eddy's replacement.

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