Barbara LoMonaco named vice president for student affairs

Dr. Barbara LoMonaco has been named vice president for student affairs at Salve Regina, President Jane Gerety, RSM, announced today. She will assume her position in July.

LoMonaco currently serves as vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., where she is also professor of anthropology.

“Barbara LoMonaco brings both academic and student affairs experience to the Salve Regina campus community, not only as a proven manager but as an innovative programmer,” Gerety said. “She is an advocate for students from all walks of life and her leadership will be invaluable as we continue our commitment to foster student engagement and success.”

“I am inspired by Salve’s mission and its power to transform the student experience,” LoMonaco said. “My first interactions on campus told me that Salve is a special place, and I am excited and honored to become part of the community.”

LoMonaco began her career in higher education in 1996 as professor of anthropology at Transylvania, where she created the anthropology major. A Bingham Award-winning professor, she has taught more than two dozen courses, including Human Origins, Healing and Culture, Urban Anthropology, Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, and Refugees in the Bluegrass, among others. She also taught Anthropology of Food, a class based on her interest in sustainability and producing her own food.

Appointed in 2012 as the chief student affairs officer at Transylvania, LoMonaco guided implementation of  many new initiatives to bolster enrollment and retention strategies, among them a living/learning community plan, an expansion of counseling services, a First Generation Student program, the Pioneer Leadership program, and programs to boost bystander intervention, alcohol education, and awareness of diversity and inclusion concerns.

Her extensive faculty service record includes a number of positions directly related to student life, including leadership roles on the Alcohol Task Force, Judicial Council, Selection Committee for Student Orientation Leaders, Sexual Grievances Judicial Board, RA Selection Committee, and the Transylvania Scholarship Committee.

LoMonaco earned her B.A. in philosophy and M.A. and Ph.D., both in cultural anthropology, from Southern Methodist University. She is also a certified addictions counselor and therapist who worked in community mental health and private practice for five years in Chicago.