The Dean of Students Office has filled an administrative position, empty since the winter of 2002, that directs Minority Student Affairs and six other university offices.

Leonard Perry will serve as the new associate dean of students and director of Minority Student Affairs. He met with students and faculty in a forum on campus April 3.

Perry could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

“Leonard brings a lot of energy,” said Pete Englin, dean of students. “He has shown an ability to create partnerships across the university.”

Englin said as associate dean of students, Perry will be responsible for many campus offices that promote student academic success, including Minority Student Affairs, Student Support Services, the Multicultural Vision and Hixson programs, National Student Exchange and the Academic Success Center.

“[Perry’s] past experiences made him an excellent choice,” Englin said. “He’s been an associate dean at a number of institutions.”

Perry comes to Iowa State from Gates Millennium Scholars in Fairfax, Va., where he was deputy executive director of the scholarship and leadership program for minority students. He has also served at the administrative level in student life departments at Brown University, Florida State University and Purdue University, according to Daily staff reports.

Nathan Johnston, Government of the Student Body director of student affairs and sophomore in pre-business, said filling the position will help campus offices to work together.

“I think there’ll be a good amount of work to do, but there’ll be someone there to fill the position. It’s going to open more doors and give us more to work on and more opportunities.”

Englin said Perry will need to create collaborations between campus organizations.

“This isn’t one person who needs to solve the issues. He’ll need to bring people from across campus together [to find solutions],” he said.

Teresa Branch, associate vice president for Student Affairs, led the search committee in charge of filling the position. She said Perry’s persistence helped sell her on his candidacy.

“[Perry will go] to great lengths with students to help them achieve their goals,” Branch said.

Englin also said Perry’s personality was one of his strongest attributes.

“He has a tremendous ability to connect with students,” he said. “We need leadership … to bring all of our resources [together].”

Englin said increasing the number of students graduating is one of the most important issues facing Perry and the Dean of Students office. “We’d like to have all students graduate at a 70 percent rate,” he said.

Perry’s talents in administration and student interaction will help to improve the current graduation rate, Englin said. Within six years, Iowa State had graduated 65.3 percent of freshmen entering in 1996, according to the ISU Fact Book.

Perry will begin his tenure at Iowa State no later than Aug. 1, Englin said.

“I think that it won’t be long before we start to see the benefits of Leonard’s contributions,” he said.