Loyola University Maryland has named Sheilah Shaw Horton, Ph.D., vice president for student development and dean of students, University President Brian F. Linnane, S.J. announced today.
Horton, who begins her new role Sept. 1, joins Loyola from fellow Jesuit institution Boston College, where she has served as associate vice president for student development and dean of students since September 2008. At Loyola, Horton’s responsibilities will include overseeing and providing strategic direction for a wide variety of campus offices and departments focused on the success and wellbeing of the University’s students.
“The vice president for student development provides critical leadership to a wide range of departments and offices which play a vital role in our students’ academic success and personal development,” said Fr. Linnane. “I am thrilled that a professional of Dr. Horton’s talent, commitment, and experience has chosen to join our University. I am also delighted that in joining Loyola, Dr. Horton continues a distinguished, 25-year-tenure in Jesuit higher education. Her profound commitment to and understanding of Loyola’s identity and mission as a Jesuit university make her well-suited to this important role, and an ideal person to build upon the remarkable foundation established by her predecessor, Dr. Susan Donovan, who has assumed the newly created role of executive vice president of the University.”
Horton, who was selected through a nationwide search supported by the firm Storbeck/Pimentel, has been with Boston College since 1986, and has held a series of positions of increasing responsibility within its student development division. These roles include assistant dean for student development and associate director of AHANA (African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American) student affairs. From June 2007-June 2008, she served as interim vice president for student affairs before assuming her current role in September 2008.
Her achievements throughout this period include advancing retention strategies for students of color; instituting a new Transfer Student Life orientation; chairing a campus task force for reduction of alcohol problems; implementing a student affairs business service center; enhancing staffing and programming for late night activities and off-campus student life; mentoring young and seasoned professional staff; promoting services and programs for graduate students; and chairing behavioral evaluation teams.
“I am impressed by Fr. Linnane’s and the Loyola community’s progress with the University’s 2008-13 strategic plan,” said Horton. “Advancing the campus culture to meet this vision presents an exciting challenge, and I look forward to joining the Loyola community to work with its talented staff, engaged faculty, and active students in meeting this challenge.
“In my years working in Jesuit higher education, I have learned that developing relationships and collaborating across divisional lines is critical to promoting overall student success. Maintaining a connection with students, faculty, and academic administrators is especially important in working toward improvements in student life and graduate student education, and in generating new ideas to move the overall organization forward. As Loyola’s next vice president for student development and dean of students, I hope to develop the successful relationships needed to advance the institution’s goal of becoming the nation’s leading Catholic comprehensive university.”
A graduate of Emmanuel College who now serves on its Board of Trustees, Horton holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Boston College.
Horton has also been active in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Conference of Multicultural Affairs for 20 years and has served as chair. In 2010, she received the Emerging Leader Award from the Massachusetts Network of the American Council on Education National Network of Women Leaders for serving as a mentor to women in the field.
Horton and her husband, Stanley, have two children: a daughter, Leah, who is a rising senior at Boston College, and a son, Johnathan, who plans to attend high school at Loyola Blakefield in Towson.
(Photo by Kerry Burke, Media Technology Services, Boston College)
For more information or questions regarding this story, contact Media Relations Manager Nick Alexopulos at nalexopulos@loyola.edu or 410-617-5025.