• "Your advice was incredibly helpful, and I left feeling clear about what I needed to say and do."
  • "Thank you for all your work on this, and your good advice. It is clear to me now that our conversation on Monday led me to the right decision. I appreciate your listening ear, discretion and expertise."
  • "You have made this so easy for me, thanks."
  • "You “get it” [the understanding of the co-curricular nature of student affairs in a liberal arts institution]."
  • "You are extraordinarily gifted [at search] – you're warm, know the institution; [you make candidates] want the job!"
  • "You are the best consultant we've ever had, and we've had many."
  • "Thank you for taking on this project and for engaging it so thoughtfully and courageously."
  • "Thank you so much for everything that you have done for us. Not just with the VP search, but being there to listen as well."
“[T]hank you, we, [the college] and me, couldn't have done it without your very good steering, informing, coaxing, illuminating and assisting.”
– successful candidate identified for
Vice President for Student Affairs, highly selective liberal arts institution

We Can Help

Call 512/426-2410 to discuss how Project Partnerships can help. Or email Sherra Babcock. We will listen to your needs and focus on your project. We'll define it and determine a possible direction together. As you deem appropriate, we will visit your campus to meet with you and your staff, and apply practical energy and concentration we call “total immersion”* to help you accomplish your goals.

* Total Immersion: a process involving listening, reading, and engrossing ourselves in your institution. With combined liberal arts and strategic marketing background, we can get quickly up-to-speed in your issues. While we are working together, you will have a trusted confidante and another pair of eyes, ears, and hands. It's like having an additional senior officer on your staff, but you don't have the long-term obligation of salary and benefits.


Our Experience

Sherra Babcock, Founder and Principal:
*More than a decade as Vice President and Dean of Students
*Specialist in student affairs transition
*36 years service to liberal arts higher ed: alumna, trustee, donor, parent, fundraiser, adjunct faculty
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What We Do

*Temporarily fill chief student affairs officer vacancies
*Manage your student affairs transition process: identify stategic opportunities, advise search committee, identify candidates, check references
*Help you fill critical dean and director position openings
*Review and advise Student Affairs departments
*Diagnose departmental problems
*Help you initiate that project you've planned to start when you get more time
*Provide research for that important presentation to your Board
*Coach employees who need more guidance than you have time to give
*Help your staff develop new programs (e.g., student-run honor codes, new residential models, internship programs)
*Explore questions of conflict among constituencies
*Develop assessment tools
*Provide a non-threatening, objective eye and ear
*Cover key position vacancies

Specialists in Student Affairs Transition

*Most liberal arts colleges are not staffed to handle major change in student affairs internally. They might appoint a student-friendly faculty member or a promising department director as an acting or interim dean; that person may need help with legal, disciplinary, and crisis management. While the President and other senior staff members give significant support, Project Partnerships provides time and experience in student affairs.
*It may be healthy for the organization to have a transition year between one student affairs administration and the next, particularly if major changes are foreseen for the department, or if there were problems in the former leadership. Project Partnerships provides experience the department will respect, and can provide temporary replacement for an interim year while helping to identify the permanent department leader.
*There is a "season" for hiring a new chief student affairs officer. Many good CSAO's will not leave their current institutions during the academic year. Therefore, if the vacancy occurs in the late spring or early summer, the institution could be without an experienced CSAO for over a year. Project Partnerships can serve as the interim dean or mentor an internal replacement.
*Some institutions will not have adequate student affairs representation in the search process because it is often unwise to include persons who will report to the new Vice President on the search committee. Project Partnerships can represent the voice of student affairs professionals to the committee, and evaluate the experience of the candidates from a student affairs professional standpoint.
*Very few national search firms, even those who specialize in academic searches, have significant experience with student affairs. Especially for liberal arts institutions, for which the collaboration with the academic mission of the college is so critical, experience and understanding of the liberal arts and student affairs is critical for identification of appropriate candidates. Project Partnerships also knows where to find appropriate liberal arts candidates.
*The stage of presidential leadership may also affect decisions regarding student affairs. Project Partnerships can provide interim student affairs leadership for a year to allow the President to consider new direction before a senior hire.
*Project Partnerships can provide temporary replacement for a vice presidential or director-level vacancy in an emergency or sabbatical situation.