On Thursday, March 18th, I had the opportunity to sit down with the VP of student services here at our college. I started out by finding out more about his academic and career history. In doing so I found out that Dr. Dwayne Alex Hunt, who goes by Dalexh, began as a first generation college student at a community college in Florida. Broward Community College was where Dr. Hunt said he “found his voice” and then followed his passion to achieve something. Dr. Hunt then, after earning his Associate’s from Broward, earned his Bachelor’s of History and Ethnic Studies from Florida Atlantic University and his Master’s of Higher Education in Student Services from the University of Mississippi.
VP Hunt explained that he went right back to Florida to work at Miami-Dade Community College where he spent time in multiple positions serving students in multiple areas such as student life activities, career advising and so on. Up next was running the learning center at a Penn State campus, followed by a return to Florida by becoming Palm Beach State College’s Assistant Dean of Students. Then again, Dr. Hunt went to Pennsylvania to be an Associate Dean of Academics which proceeded him being Dean of Students before lastly, moving to California to become Dean of Academic Support Services at Solano College.
The familiar ruralness of our community is what drew Dr. Hunt to Yuba specifically. However, even though he’d been to Yuba a couple times before Covid and undergone the full hiring process, Dr. Hunt has still yet to experience all of what makes Yuba Yuba. He hopes in the coming semesters to make up for those missed student and campus interactions.
In case you were wondering what a vice president of student services does, Dr. Hunt described the position as “meeting with the constituencies, the student government, the student, the faculty, the staff, and developing the vision and working that out…supervising, working, supporting the faculty. supporting the staffs, supporting administration making sure they get the resources that they need so they can do good work it’s really what it’s about and of course always putting students first.”
Regarding Yuba College’s greatest strength and weakness, Dr. Hunt stated that the people here at Yuba are our greatest strength. He explained that he’s observed a commitment to the community here and that he expects this place “will come alive again” when things open back up. He also stated that because Covid has limited to a large extent what he’s been able to see of the college, that he could not give a fair answer to what he sees as Yuba’s greatest area for improvement.
Concerning the future of student services, Dr. Hunt is working towards more equitable access continuing for all students as we open up more in the fall and as Yuba makes its way into the future. Hunt made it a point to mention that these services at Yuba should be made readily available for all students whether or not a student has the option to come in person or not.
Lastly, Vice President Hunt wanted students to know they have a VP who is student-first, that they have a college that “really does care”, and he invited students to look out for him, for each other, as we have more in-person activities and on campus experiences in the coming semesters.
Hello! I am a very invested student of Yuba College. I used to tutor English and writing at the WLDC and I still do tutor math/chem in the CSC along with being a Peer Mentor and the President of our student body government. I am a Pre-Med student working on transferring to UC Davis and then, Lord willing, on to Med School
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