Bethany Schuttinga, assistant dean of students, will be leaving Iowa State after being involved in the university community for nearly eight years.

“I think Iowa State is a great institution,” Schuttinga said.

She said she has enjoyed her time here, although she looks forward to her new position as vice president for student services at Dordt College.

Schuttinga’s duties as the assistant dean of students have mostly consisted of leading Iowa State’s centralized judicial process.

In this role, she oversaw cases of academic and nonacademic discipline related to offenses such as academic dishonesty, violence and violations involving drugs and alcohol.

Schuttinga said the most challenging part of her job came when students had to be removed from the university community.

“That was probably the worst part,” she said.

At the same time, however, Schuttinga said there is a positive aspect of that difficult scenario.

“I think it does a lot for our community and for the individual when suspensions do happen,” she said. “People do change, but even though that change is necessary, it doesn’t make it easy for those involved in that process.”

The collaborative relationships she formed with other departments across campus and in Ames was one thing Schuttinga said she enjoyed the most about her job.

She worked with ISU Police, Ames Police, academic advisers, faculty, student affairs, the athletic department and campus religious organizations.

Schuttinga said in the ISU and Ames community there are “a lot of very skilled people,” and she believes her relationships with them has prepared her for her new position at Dordt College, where she will have broader responsibilities.

Overseeing discipline has allowed Schuttinga to see many things that have surprised her over the years.

She said she has learned a lot about student behavior, but will not be able to say she has seen it all.

“There’s always something new that happens,” Schuttinga said.

The most memorable time of her stay at Iowa State, Schuttinga said, had to be spring 2004, when the student organization Cuffs was disciplined for doing a demonstration in the Memorial Union and when the Veishea riots took place.

Cuffs is a student organization that educates about ways to stay safe with fetishes, BDSM and other expressions of sexuality. That incident, Schuttinga said, brought her a degree of notoriety she never expected to have.

The club was charged with assault, and Schuttinga was responsible for the university’s discipline process that came about as a result. She said the incident brought a lot of media attention.

During that time, she said typing her name into Google’s search engine yielded several interesting headlines, such as “Campus leader whips student organization into place.” Schuttinga laughed as she remembered some of the headlines.

Although many might regard discipline as a negative thing, Schuttinga said there is much that is positive about the process.

“I think that’s something a lot of people misunderstand about campus discipline in general,” Schuttinga said. “The goal is that [students are] learning from these things.”

She said she has fully enjoyed her job here and hopes to be remembered as passionate about what she does, and as always wanting what is best for the university community and individual students.

Keith Bystrom, associate university legal counsel, worked with Schuttinga during her time at Iowa State and he said he thought she did an excellent job.

“She’s open to ideas on how to handle different things,” Bystrom said. “She listens to different sides of disputes, and takes into account the information she receives in making a good resolution.”

Bystrom said Schuttinga showed compassion and excellent judgment in her role as a campus disciplinarian.

“I think she was very dedicated to what she was assigned to do at Iowa State,” he said. “We’re certainly going to miss her.”

There will be a reception for Schuttinga from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Campanile Room in the Memorial Union.