Dan Long Reflects on Evolving the Student Experience, Student Advocacy and Becoming AVP for Campus Life

Student well-being, safety and experience are Dan Long’s guiding lights. These were his priorities when he came to the College for Creative Studies in 2005 and first served as Student Programming Coordinator, and they remain his priorities as Assistant Vice President for Campus Life, an appointment Long received during the summer of 2024.

As AVP for Campus Life, Long oversees three interconnected offices of the College: the Student Affairs Office, Campus Safety and Security, and the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX.

These entities have been redefined during Long’s two-decade tenure at the College. To better meet students’ needs, the former Office of Student Life —which included two separate offices: the Wellness Center and the Residence Life and Housing Office—became the overarching Student Affairs Office. This office is now the umbrella for several key areas, including the Student Engagement and Belonging Office, Residence Life, Student Organizations, Wellness and Counseling Services, Student Disability Services, and the Center for Tutoring and Writing, among others.

Another change was the former Office of Institutional Equity and Inclusion, which was restructured to become the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX. A director position was created to oversee the office, which reports to Long as well.

“Everything that reports to me is really rooted in making students feel like they belong and are capable at CCS,” Long says. “Every student at CCS should feel like they have a place; that they belong and have an opportunity to be successful here.”

That notion was at the core of Long’s role as a Student Programming Coordinator nearly 21 years ago. He was later promoted to a joint role as Assistant Director of Student Life and Student Ombudsman. During that time in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Long remembers the College was working towards providing more experiences for students outside of the classroom, through things such as peer support networks and co-curricular learning opportunities. An indicator of that shift, according to Long, was the increase in employees. CCS went from 10-12 resident assistants at that time to presently having around 60 total work study students.

“Seeing that growth in the opportunities we’re able to provide and that we can generate enough interest in working for those various areas is one of the big leading signs that I see in a tangible way, that Student Affairs is making an impact,” he says.

In 2012, Long was promoted to Dean of Students at CCS. During his 12 years in that role, he continued to support streamlining efforts of what he says were the College’s student-facing offices and the crisis-oriented offices. The aforementioned transition of the former Office of Student Life to today’s comprehensive Student Affairs Office happened while Long was Dean of Students.

Fourteen years later, and two years into his AVP role, Long is happy with CCS’ holistic approach to student experience. His goal for Student Affairs is to continue building on the work those teams have already achieved through their strategic planning. For Campus Safety and Security and the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, Long says empowerment and trust building among the greater campus community has been his goal, especially with the latter office being new.

“So really, that has been, how do we successfully launch, announce and integrate a new office and a new function for the institution in a space where there’s not always a lot of trust?” Long says. “There’s no inherent trust in an office of civil rights; you have to earn that respect and trust from people.”

Long is also excited about the “enormous growth” in student organizations over the past couple of years, as well as the pending launch of a new student engagement platform. This platform will allow students to create an account and build a full co-curricular transcript to visualize their collegiate experience.

“I have an incredibly strong team of professional staff and student staff that really make all of this work on a higher level,” he says. “I always like to make sure that I highlight them, in these kinds of situations where they’re making all of this really function, and giving the students at CCS the opportunity to experience all of this.”