March 3, 2011 - 5:42pm
Wilgus named new OSCR director
BY DEVON THORSBY
The University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution has a new director as of Tuesday, after months of interviews and narrowing down candidates, according to a press release written by Simone Taylor, associate vice president for student affairs and director of the Career Center.
Jay Wilgus, assistant dean from the University of Utah, has been selected to be the next OSCR director, beginning July 19, according to the press release. Wilgus’s new role will consist of overseeing all work done by OSCR, including receiving and reviewing formal complaints by students, mediation, determining the severity of complaints and formal resolution and appeal of complaints made.
The search for a new OSCR director began in December 2009 with the departure of former director Jennifer Schrage. Schrage became director in Fall 2006 after working as the director of the Office of Student Judicial Services at Eastern Michigan University.
Taylor made the final decision after a search committee comprised of students and faculty met with her to discuss the candidates.
The committee narrowed the candidates down Wilgus and Jim Neumeister, the director of the Office of Judicial Affairs at Northwestern University, before making the final decision.
During the interim period without an official director, OSCR co-Managing Directors Will Hathaway and Dawn Marshall, along with Schrage, took charge of guiding the office through the transition.
The press release stated that Wilgus intends to continue to use the Spectrum model, developed by Thompson and Shrage in 2008.
“His education, experience, and especially educational philosophy toward student conflict resolution work are all excellent fits for this role,” the press release said.
Wilgus holds an Honors Bachelor Degree of science in speech communication and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah, as well as a Master of Dispute Resolution degree from Pepperdine University, according to the press release.
According to a March 16 article from The Michigan Daily, Wilgus spoke of his vision for OSCR as providing a welcoming atmosphere in a public presentation on March 15 to an audience primarily made up of University students and police officers.
“I don’t want students thinking of OSCR as a principal’s office,” Wilgus said at the time. “We educate and repair harm.”
In order to take his new position as the director of OSCR, Wilgus will step down from his position as assistant dean of students at the University of Utah, which included directing Fraternity and Sorority Life, as well as his roles as a mediator for campus conflict and a counselor for student advocacy at the University of Utah.
