After a national search and a series of interviews and open forums, Dean of Students Pete Englin was chosen Monday to be the new Department of Residence director.

“It was a tough decision. There were four well-qualified candidates,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill.

He said it was experience that made Englin stand out.

“He has the director level experience and the administrative experience,” Hill said. “His experiences made him a good candidate for the position.”

In addition to his current position, Englin has also served as the coordinator of residence life and marketing and conference coordinator.

Englin said the chance to interact with new students is what drew him to the position.

“Almost 90 percent of all our first-time, first-year students choose to live in the residence halls; this is where they start their careers at Iowa State. It’s great to be part of that,” he said. “In the dean’s role, I’m very much in touch [with students], I just wanted to be part of that initial welcome.”

Englin said he is confident he is the right choice for the position.

“I’m confident that the process for my selection was very thorough and would believe that it would satisfy the expectations of the regents, but they ultimately will decide,” he said.

The Board of Regents is slated to vote on Englin’s nomination at its June meeting in Davenport.

The next step is for Englin to transition from dean of students to DOR director at the beginning of July. After the transition has been made, Hill will pick an interim Dean of Students.

“My understanding is they’ll look to appoint an interim and then begin a search for a permanent dean this summer,” Englin said.

Englin received a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a master’s degree in education from North Dakota State University. He also received a doctorate in hotel, restaurant and institution management and family and consumer science education from Iowa State.