Dawn Soufleris

By opening doors to all, especially the historically underserved, higher education doesn't just change individual lives – it revolutionizes entire communities. This understanding is central to the mission of Montclair State University, and its Vice President for Student Development and Campus Life, Dawn Meza Soufleris.

Dawn sat down with Max Webber, Co-Host of The Interview, to share her insights on her career path, the importance of building a sense of belonging for all students, and the challenge of building engagement across divides.

Dawn's Journey

Max: Let’s start with an introduction to yourself and your institution…

I’m Dawn Soufleris, and I am the Vice President for Student Development and Campus Life at Montclair State University. I have been in the field of Student Affairs for almost 35 years, working in various positions from Residence Life and Student Conduct right up through Associate VP positions. I served for five years as the Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at LaSalle University in Philadelphia before moving to Montclair just over three years ago.

Montclair State University is a large public institution in the northern part of New Jersey. We serve about 24,000 students across two campuses. We recently merged with Bloomfield College – a small, predominantly black institution from northern New Jersey. Montclair is also known for being a Hispanic and minority-serving institution. We have a vibrant campus in a beautiful suburb 14 miles from the heart of Manhattan, and we can see the skyline right there on campus. So it’s really the best of both worlds.

Max: What inspired you to pursue a career in Student Affairs?

Like many people, I feel like I fell into this field. When I was 12 years old, I wasn’t telling people I wanted to be a VP of Student Affairs! But once you arrive at college and become involved in campus life, it opens your eyes to the potential of this career field. I was a first-generation college student who attended the State University of New York (SUNY) system, and I really had no concept of what I wanted to be. I was advised by a mentor who recommended that I think about the field of student affairs. After I got a master's in education and then my PhD in Sociology, I entered the field and never looked back. It's not just a nine-to-five; I truly believe that this work is a calling.

Max: What’s the best way to go about fostering a sense of belonging for all students?

The idea of a sense of belonging is not new in our field; researchers have been talking about this since the 90s. When students feel connected, when they feel like they are part of a community, they do far better in terms of retention and future careers. For many in higher education, it really came into the spotlight during the pandemic. Students spent so much of their time in their bedroom, or at the kitchen table learning on Zoom. It severely impacted our students in terms of their mental health and feelings of isolation. So we've taken a really strong stance, creating a new Office of Student Belonging that is focused on this issue. That allows us to provide centralized programming, outreach, and opportunities to help onboard our students so they know what support is available. Despite being such a large public institution, we want students here to feel like part of a family. 

Max: Free speech is a contentious issue on college campuses. How can we encourage students to engage in civil discourse across political divides?

It's a difficult balance, because we want students to have a voice and be able to be politically and civically active – we are highly focused on public service and community engagement. Yet everything we do is through a social justice lens, because we have a highly diverse student body. This year, we’ve seen more student activism than we have in a very long time, particularly because of the Israel-Hamas conflict. It's also going to be a pretty pivotal election year for the United States. So we are trying to provide a platform for students to engage in civil discourse. But this is a situation where the sides are very polarized; we can’t just say, let's have everybody sit down at the table and come to some kind of middle ground. We don’t have a magic formula, but we do our best to engage in dialogue with students on all sides. We allow protests, but we try to do it in a thoughtful manner so that nobody gets hurt. We’ve been focused for a very long time on providing students with all opportunities to learn. So we bring in speakers from all sides, regardless of whether it's a current geopolitical conflict or a domestic debate like the Black Lives Matter movement. We try to bring different groups together – not just to talk over differences, but also to engage in something positive and build bridges.

Max: How do you approach the challenge of keeping students engaged and energized beyond the classroom?

Students are very hungry right now for any kind of engagement. We’re trying to be intentional in designing activities which bring students together and help them engage with each other. It’s also important to create opportunities for engagement at the table, sometimes facilitated, sometimes peer-led. Our students have been really receptive to that. We’re fortunate to have some excellent faculty who are willing to spend time in and outside the classroom, engaging their students in different kinds of ways. But we know we’re not engaging everyone; we have 24,000 students, and reaching all of them is a lot of work. 

Max: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received over the course of your career?

Sometimes you need to stop and listen. Quiet your mind when somebody's sharing something with you – it’s okay to not have a quick response. It’s important to be present for the person who's sharing.