The senior residence life administrator from Pitzer College began her new role at Elon on July 15.
Kirsten Carrier, the associate dean of students and director of residence life and conference services at Pitzer College, has been selected as assistant dean of campus life and Director of Residence Life at Elon following a national search. Carrier began her service at Elon on Friday, July 15.
Carrier joins Elon to help lead the efforts to enhance living and learning at Elon, a signature experience at the university and an important priority in the new Boldly Elon strategic plan.
Carrier has worked at Pitzer College, a residential liberal arts college that is part of the Claremont Colleges Consortium, in a variety of residence life positions since 2014. Previously she worked at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and started her career at Pitzer. Originally from Wisconsin, Carrier earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and her master’s degree in higher education and student affairs at Indiana University.
In her leadership roles, Carrier ran a 3-year effort to develop and implement a co-curriculum that brings class-based structure to student learning outside of the classroom, aligning residence life and university priorities. She led a Racial Justice Policies departmental group in creating a new Bias Education and Community Response Team to address bias and hate incidents on Pitzer’s campus, and worked on shared governance structures to better support staff in the community. Carrier helped six affinity groups secure residential space for gathering and growing a sense of belonging on the residential campus.
Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Campus Life Eleanor Finger said Carrier is “student-centered, able to build cohesive, relationally-focused teams, and someone who values strong campus partnerships to get important work done.”
In her leadership role at Elon, Carrier will connect the residential campus experience to university and community priorities, continue to strengthen faculty engagement with out-of-class student experiences, and will help all students, in their diverse identities, feel at home, empowered, and supported while living on campus. Carrier will provide key strategic leadership for implementing a new 10-year plan to advance living and learning as it aligns with Boldly Elon goals for building a healthier and more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community in a vibrant residential campus environment.
“I’m thrilled to join the Elon community to create supportive and impactful residential experiences for all students,” Carrier said. “After working at a small residential college in California for 10 years, my family and I will be relocating this summer to bring my passion for residence life and student affairs to a new campus on a new coast.”
Carrier was selected for the role following the departure of MarQuita Barker, who departed Elon to become the vice president for student development at Knox College.