UA News

Vito has watched the UA mature into a top-tier research university during her long and varied career here.

Name
Melissa Vito

Position
Vice President for Student Affairs

Number of years at the UA
30

Favorite part about working at the UA
"I think, because it's a campus that's probably never had the resources that we need, it's very collaborative. People work really well together to try to achieve bigger goals, and I don't think that's the case everywhere else." 

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Whether they're looking for a place to eat, sleep, shop, exercise or get medical care on campus, every University of Arizona student will take advantage of Student Affairs programs, services, resources and facilities during their college career.

Arizona Student Unions, Residence Life, Campus Recreation and the Campus Health Service are just a few on a long list of nonacademic units that are part of the Student Affairs division, which supports student life and retention at the UA. 

At the helm of the diverse and expansive division is Vice President for Student Affairs Melissa Vito, who manages the office's $132 million budget and oversees its nearly 4,000 employees.

A UA alumna, Vito has held various positions on campus over the past three decades, starting in financial aid, then heading up new student orientation and working her way up in the ranks to serve as dean of students before assuming her current position in 2007. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism and English and two master's degrees – one in counseling and one in higher education – from the UA. 

Vito is the mom of twin boys who attend the UA, giving her even greater insight into what students want and how their college experience might be improved.

She recently sat down with Lo Que Pasa and shared her thoughts on increasing tuition, hurdles facing today's college students and how the UA has changed during the past 30 years.

What are some of the biggest changes you've witnessed during your time at the UA?
I think that the University coming into its own as a top-tier research university has been huge. And at the same time, I think, over the years that I've been here, the focus on what the student experience would be like has completely changed. Coronado was a state of the art residence hall, and now our halls are aesthetically so different and they're also built to create a different sense of community and provide different experiences. The rec center was built in the late '80s and now we have this amazing expansion. ... So I think there's been a lot of growth over the past, say, 25 years or so in how we build a campus to support students – the Student Union, the redevelopment of that, the BookStore, those kinds of anchoring places. The diversity of the campus community has also changed significantly ... now one out of every three entering freshmen from Arizona is ethnically diverse.

What's your proudest accomplishment in your time here?
It would probably be a couple of things. On the absolute work front, among those things was helping to move the Student Union project/BookStore project through. I think now it is moving to finish the rec center. We have the expansion, but we're going to develop the whole other piece of it and look at how we do that in a way that will really redefine that experience for students in the community here. ... I think, also, reorganizing the (Student Affairs) division in a way that, to me, is just really exciting, that makes sense. ... From the time I ran orientation in the late '80s, I always was sort of frustrated that it didn't feel like there was one place you could send a new student who needed tutoring or academic support, so bringing those areas together (and) developing a Think Tank, and to in four months have that go from opening its doors to over a third of the freshman having been there is pretty exciting. ... On the other end of it, over the past few years, I finally finished my dissertation in 2007. So I got my doctorate (in educational leadership) done. I have twin sons who are now freshmen here, so I think being able to balance – to be a mom and do the rest of it – is actually probably ultimately (my proudest accomplishment).

Were your sons destined to go to the UA?
One son decided early on he wanted to come to the U of A and then one son was pretty much (determined to go) anywhere but the U of A. ... They're both here, doing fine. ... It helps me in my job to also have my "mom hat." ... I tease my staff that having my kids in college now, it's like I have a focus group, always, of them and their friends. I can always kind of find out what's going on, what didn't work and what did work.

What are your thoughts on the proposed tuition increase?
I think it's a hard time to be working in public higher education. State investment in higher education – we're not the only institution in the country that's experiencing it – but it's declining, and it has been for a while. ... To preserve the quality that we've got, and the kinds of experiences that students need to have here, I think it's unfortunate but it is inevitable that it will cost more. ... Our tuition here doesn't necessarily feel like a bargain if you're a student here, but it really is if you look at the schools that we compete against for students and faculty. So for us to be moving toward more midrange among our peers may feel significant here, but relative to the whole array of institutions that we get compared to, we'll still probably be middle of the pack.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing college students today?
I think the fact that the economy is changing will create some challenges. We had half the number of employers come this year as typically come to our Career Services area, so I think the sense of, "I'm going to go to college, I'll get out, I'm going to get a great job," I think there's more uncertainty there. It doesn't mean that people won't be successful but I think how we define success (may change) ... back to an era where people worked longer to get to where they wanted to be. ... (Another challenge is) we see students coming to campus with more issues. Our mental health staff has seen almost a 20 percent increase in usage over the past few years. More students come to campus who have been diagnosed with ADD (attention deficit disorder) or different kinds of issues, so students come with medication that they're taking. It's interesting, I knew things had changed when we were meeting with staff – I was Dean of Students then so it was probably five or six, seven years ago – we were talking about (new student) orientation and the Campus Health staff were saying, "Be sure that we tell students to stay on their meds."

You also chair the UA's Campus Emergency Response Team. What's your involvement there?
Because the University of Arizona has had some things (happen) here, we've kind of been at the forefront of a lot of issues, so I was really excited a few years ago when we were actually able to move to a (UAlert) text messaging system (to alert the campus about emergencies). We were one of the early schools to do that. ... We had a student-focused emergency response team in the '80s and then moved it, early in this decade, to be more encompassing of the whole campus, which was really important. We had the College of Nursing shootings, the issues in Graham-Greenlee (residence hall), where we had the homicide, so we've had a number of different things that I think have tested us. I think we've got a pretty well-articulated, pretty well-trained, maintained emergency response group.

What do you like best about your job?
It gives me an opportunity to be creative. I get to work with smart, great people and do things that impact the greater good, where we can actually make a difference, help students be retained and be the place that students want to come.

What are the biggest challenges of your job?
I think for me it's just trying to balance everything, because there are so many different roles that I need to play and meetings that I need to be in. ... I think, though, that what is challenging working in higher education, or any of the areas that try to serve a higher purpose, is that I do feel like our society has become less engaged in wanting to help the greater good ... that sense of wanting to invest, whether it's health care or whether it's roads or higher education. ... (It) makes this moment in time kind of challenging.

Do you know someone who has an interesting job at the UA? Send his or her name and contact information to lqp@email.arizona.edu for consideration for a future Employee Q&A.