Dear campus community -
I am delighted to announce that Dr. Sunny Lee is our permanent Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students.
Sunny has served as the interim Dean of Students since July 2019 and has provided leadership during very challenging times, including the state power outages in the fall, as well as the recent transition to remote instruction and services. Her unflappable leadership and expertise in conflict resolution, crisis management, and student leadership development have been called on repeatedly; her mindfulness and commitment to equity and inclusion have been very welcome in both administrative and students spheres, and her astute management skills have provided guidance and direction for a large portfolio of departments.
Before this role, Sunny served as the Associate Dean of Students where she oversaw several offices that provide advocacy and support for students including the Center for Student Conduct, the Center for Support and Intervention, and Student Legal Services. Before that, she was the Assistant Ombudsperson in the Ombuds Office for Students and Postdoctoral Appointees where she provided a confidential environment to discuss conflicts, concerns or complaints.
Before joining UC Berkeley, Sunny was Director of the Office of Student Life and Cultural Centers at Cal Poly Pomona where she provided leadership and supervision for cultural centers, clubs/organizations, Greek Life, re-entry, leadership development and first-year experience programs. Prior to this role, she served as Assistant Director of UC Irvine’s Cross-Cultural Center and Pomona College’s Asian American Resource Center. She has also sailed with the Semester at Sea study abroad program on three voyages as a Resident Director, Assistant Executive Dean, and Dean of Students where she oversaw residential and stude nt life, crisis response, voyager safety and security, student wellness and student conduct.
Sunny earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Claremont Graduate University, M.Ed. in College Student Personnel from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in Criminology and Law from UC Irvine. She has taught Student Development Theory and Multicultural Practice in Student Services at UC Berkeley Extension as part of the Student Affairs & Higher Education certificate program. She has also written and published on college student and racial identity development as well as women and leadership issues in higher education.
Sunny will continue to provide collaborative leadership for the Dean of Students unit with Samuel Santos, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement. I know they are both excited about making this model permanent and developing a collective and intentional vision that will provide stability for a large and com plex unit.
We launched a national search for the permanent Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students position last fall and were in the process of scheduling in-person interviews for our finalists when the pandemic disrupted our plans. Sunny was one of our leading finalists and she proved her mettle as the pandemic unfolded here on campus. Given her leadership during these extraordinary times as well as her stellar performance during the interview process to date, we decided to end our search and appoint her as our permanent Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students. Interviewing her alongside the other candidates during earlier rounds gave us the confidence to know she is the best person for this position. My thanks to the search committee for their excellent work:
- Lauren Beilin, Project/Policy Analyst (staff to committee)
- Esther Gulli, Executive Director of Government & Community Relations
- Andrea Lambert, Chief of Staff to the Provost
- Fabrizio Mejia, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Equity & Inclusion
- Aastha Jha, Vice President Academic Affairs, Associated Students of the University of California (undergraduate student representative)
- Luis Tenorio, Vice President, Equity & Inclusion, Graduate Assembly (graduate student representative)
- Derek Van Rheenen , Executive Director of the Athletic Study Center
- Alfred Day, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Center for Support & Intervention
- La Dawn Duvall, Executive Director, Visitor and Parent Services
Please join me in congratulating Sunny. Go, Bears!
Sincerely,
Stephen C. Sutton, Ed.D.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
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