Julie Wong, regional associate vice chancellor for student affairs, began her new position at USF St. Petersburg on August 1, after serving as the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Wong received a bachelor’s degree in recreation and leisure studies from San Jose State University, a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Michigan State University and a doctorate degree in higher education administration from the University of Southern California.
While studying at San Jose State, Wong completed an internship at the University of California, Davis, in the area of campus recreation. She enjoyed being on a college campus, and after discovering that her advisor had attended Michigan State to learn how to work on a college campus, considered it for her own future and ultimately decided to attend.
Wong said she enjoys working within the intellectual community found on a college campus.
“I like the opportunity to be on a campus with cutting edge issues,” she said. “Whether it’s politics, education, government, the economy, you’ll have faculty members that are interested in researching certain things.”
She also enjoys working with students—“they have ambitions and aspirations to do great things in the world,” she said.
“I also love the diversity,” Wong said. “It’s an opportunity to learn and to grow. You’re around people who are constantly learning, so that motivates you.”
Education is a great business to be in, she said, because the bottom line is to help students, who are facing challenges in their lives outside of school, achieve.
“It’s an opportunity to create environments for people to be successful,” she said.
Wong oversees several areas on campus, including housing and residence life; counseling, health and wellness; student life and engagement, including Student Government, clubs and organizations, and the Waterfront; and financial aid, scholarships and Veterans Affairs. She acts as a liaison between students and administration.
“I like it because it’s so varied,” she said. She supervises staff, attends meetings with other campus administrators, attends student events and is involved in the current building projects on campus—the new multipurpose student center and the construction to the Campus Activities Center.
“It’s a lot of problem solving, and community relations,” she said. “It’s a little bit of everything. I don’t think you would ever get bored doing this job.”
In addition to meeting individually with staff and addressing short range needs, Wong plans to work with the directors of various aspects of campus—student services, financial aid, housing, student life, health and wellness—on creating a vision for student affairs.
“I think, always, my goal is to create environments and communities where students feel comfortable—where all students feel welcome and where they want to get involved,” she said. Wong wants students to find their passions, and become engaged and find a connection to the university.
“As you get involved, you get attached to the university and as you get more connected to the university, you get to meet more people and you become part of the USF St. Pete family,” she said. “And then when you graduate, you become great alumni, so I think it’s really important for my job to build a solid foundation so that all students feel welcome.”
Wong said that she enjoys USF St. Petersburg’s atmosphere—a university with personalized education and the opportunity to spend a lot of time with staff and students. The location—on the water, in a thriving arts community—is perfect for a small, but growing college, she said.
“It’s an opportunity to build a really vibrant student life,” she said.
Students finding their passion is part of crafting that vibrant student life, and while Wong notes the struggles today’s college students face—deciding on a major, dealing with financial issues, paying off student loans—finding that passion is important, she said.
“I still think it’s a good idea to do what you’re really passionate about,” she said. “If you can find something that you really love and enjoy, you tend to do it better.”
