Shawn Brooks leaving Pitt’s main campus

[Updated: March 12, 12:12 a.m.]

Shawn Brooks, Pitt’s Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life, is leaving the main campus after accepting a position at Pitt’s Johnstown campus.

Brooks will assume his duties at UPJ on April 1.

Brooks will take over as UPJ’s Vice President for Student Affairs. In his new role, Brooks will “ administer, monitor, and evaluate Student Affairs programs, formulate and implement student policies,” according to a press release from UPJ’s Office of Public Relations and Communications.

UPJ President Jem Spectar lauded Brooks’ record at Pitt, University California-Los Angeles, St. Lawrence University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he has also held administrative positions.

“[Brooks] brings an impressive record of fostering and achieving student life outcomes including retention, student satisfaction, and campus and civic engagement,” Spectar said in the press release.

Brooks has served as as Pitt’s Director of Residence Life since 2008. According to the Residence Life Office’s website, the office’s mission is “provid[ing] an educationally stimulating and purposeful community for residence hall students at the University of Pittsburgh.”

Brooks’s new position at UPJ is similar to that of Pitt Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey. In an email, Humphrey said that her and Brooks have collaborated in the past to prepare him for his eventual career transition into student affairs.

“A few years ago, Dr. Brooks shared with me his aspiration to become a chief Student Affairs officer, and, together, we have worked to ensure that he would be more than prepared to take that next professional step,” she said.

Humphrey added that the University would conduct a search to find Brooks’s replacement, but no other specifics could be provided regarding the job search.