After illness delayed his arrival for nearly two months, Iowa State’s new Assistant Dean of Student Services arrived on campus in late September and has spent his first few weeks here familiarizing himself with the university.

Leonard Perry has had little time to effect any changes to the atmosphere of Iowa State, working instead to familiarize himself with the school and its people, as well as unifying the goals of the Minority Student Affairs office.

“I’ve been meeting with strategic individuals on campus who have an influence over the graduation and retention rates of our students,” Perry said.

Perry, who was originally slated to take office Aug. 1, will be working not only in the capacity of assistant dean, but also as head of the Minority Student Affairs office, a position that had been vacant for two years prior to his arrival.

Perry said the main duties of the office are threefold — his office deals with scholarship and retention among a select population of students, improving the quality of life for all students of color and working with the whole of the ISU community to prepare students of all races for living, working and leading in a multicultural society.

“Because students of color do not live, work and play here in isolation, we need to work with the overall ISU community relative to diversity, [and] more specifically, issues of race and ethnicity,” Perry said.

Part of Perry’s duties will include improving the retention of minority students, who historically have not graduated with the same degree of success as other students.

This initiative is part of the mandate put forth by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, who, during his installation, announced his goal of graduating 70 percent of all ISU students.

“Our mission of retaining students of color is shared by the entire institution,” Perry said. “The [office of Minority Student Affairs] is in a shared endpoint leadership position to facilitate in that direction.”

Perry’s other duties will include acting as the supervisor of Student Support Services, the Multicultural Vision and Christina Hixson Programs, the National Student Exchange and the Academic Success Center.

Dean of Students Pete Englin said he felt Perry had been well-received by the ISU community thus far.

“This is a very welcoming community,” he said. “We have excellent students and many great things going on.

“My sense is that he’s enjoying the transition, and he feels this is a great place for him and I’m confident he’ll be great for Iowa State.”

Englin said part of Perry’s welcome was a sound thrashing via foosball, delivered by students during Saturday’s homecoming game. With Englin as his partner, Perry met a graceful defeat.

“We got smoked,” Englin admitted. “The students who were playing us said they owned us.”