President Martin Jischke has selected Iowa State’s new vice president for student affairs.

He is Thomas Hill, dean of student services at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and he has a lot of work ahead of him.

Hill was chosen Monday to be the new vice president for student affairs. He has some big shoes to fill. These shoes belong to Tom Thielen.

Thielen toiled as vice president for student affairs for 22 years and earned praise and respect from a large portion of the student body — a difficult task for most administrators. Thielen helped students and brought input from students to the other administrators. Thielen was also popular among faculty and staff.

We hope Hill can accomplish the same task Thielen did. We hope Hill, if he can fill Thielen’s shoes, will find Iowa State pleasant enough to stay for a long period of time. We also thought we’d give him a sneak preview of his caricature (below) so he’ll be more acquainted with the student newspaper.

In addition, we are pleased to have an African American as the vice president for student affairs. Hill has written about student-athlete development and white racial identity attitudes.

Hill undoubtedly was chosen because he was the best person for the job, but with the number of racial issues that surfaced throughout the past school year — Catt Hall, Trice Stadium, renovation of the Black Cultural Center, the Beardshear Eight’s hearings with the Office of Judicial Affairs, the possible removal of specialty seats in the GSB Senate and the phony assault on black student security guard Deantrious Mitchell — Iowa State University, where George Washington Carver once studied, could use someone with special experience with racial issues.

Hill’s previous work with racial attitudes should help him resolve some of the tension this school has had. And he should be someone who can help the administration work with Ames officials on making this city more accommodating to minorities, such as getting BET on the cable package.

We wish him the best in his new job.

But it’s too bad there’s not a place in Ames for him, or other black men, to get a haircut.