December 4, 2020 Dear William Paterson Community: A while back, I announced the development of the Black and Latino Male Initiative to focus on increasing success and improving the student experience for this population in our community. While the group had been functioning informally, I wanted to institutionalize it and make it part of the formal William Paterson experience. While it took longer than I had hoped to get things organized, I am pleased to announce that Mr. Timothy Stanfield has agreed to serve as coordinator for the Black and Latino Male Initiative. As many of you are aware, Mr. Stanfield has served as an Academic Success Specialist in the Academic Success Center since 2013. Reporting to Dr. Reginald G. Ross, Vice President for Enrollment Management, in this role, Tim will lead our efforts to: Develop and coordinate a peer and professional mentoring program for Black and Latino male students (Match first-year Black and Latino male students with trained Black and Latino upperclassmen and administrators) Coordinate monthly group lunch check-ins Coordinate a book club and discussion group (Goal is to read one book per semester) Coordinate a yearly, one-day summit to address the current needs of the community Provide one-on-one support, when needed (check-ins/huddles) Develop baseline information on student engagement for Black and Latino male freshmen. Measure belonging using a non-cognitive variable measurement instrument (survey) The success of the program will be benchmarked to improvements in the retention, academic progress, and graduation rates for this population of students. Mr. Stanfield is on pace to complete his doctorate in Higher Education Leadership, Management, and Policy in 2022. I hope you will join me in thanking him for taking on this new role in addition to his responsibilities in the Academic Success Center. I am confident in his ability to make an impact for our students. Sincerely, Richard J. Helldobler, PhD President
