Spring Break
'One amazing woman'
Dean of Student Life Jackie Balzer is set to leave OSU for position at Portland State
Tara Pistorese
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
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Balzer has accepted a position as vice provost of student affairs at Portland State University and attributes her choice to career advancement.
As the dean of student life, Balzer promoted the development of a healthy campus community at OSU by providing leadership for departments and functions that support students' intellectual, ethical and social development, according to the OSU website.
Balzer has worked in student affairs for 20 years, two of which were spent at OSU in the College of Education graduate program in student affairs.
Balzer then moved to Eugene, where she worked for seven years in student life work, including conduct and student orientation.
After finishing her work at the University of Oregon, Balzer moved back to OSU, where she has been for the last 10 years.
"I'm a two-time alum of OSU, so there's definitely orange and black throughout me, but I think what I'm intending to do is represent OSU very well by saying, 'This place made me,'" Balzer said.
Balzer is also a firm believer in the power of learning and the power possessed by motivated people.
"Anything we do, or we gather, or we write can have so much impact. For me that is kind of how I live," Balzer said. "Going to college and getting degrees in whatever your passion is pays off."
As dean of student life, Balzer has been involved in creating a healthy campus through leadership opportunities.
According to Balzer, creating a healthy campus includes supporting students in crisis, addressing issues of bias, sexual violence and disease and helping campus focus on help-seeking as well as preparedness and prevention against misfortunes.
"I would say her development of the healthy campus initiative teams [is her greatest achievement]," said Dan Schwab, director of student conduct and community standards. "She has brought together the critical incident response team, where basically we handle incidents before they evolve into Virginia Tech-type things."
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