The third and final candidate to replace retiring Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill interviewed Wednesday morning at an open forum in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.

Martino Harmon, current associate vice president for Student Affairs, graduated from the University of Toledo with a bachelor’s in business administration, a master’s of education and a Ph.D. in philosophy.

While Harmon has only been at Iowa State for two and a half years, he said he’s been preparing for the opportunity for 20 years.

“Every step I’ve taken in my career has prepared me for a leadership role at a comprehensive university with a comprehensive student affairs division,” Harmon said. “I love this place … it’s the best place I’ve ever worked. Every time I arrive on this campus and I cross those gates I feel fortunate, I feel blessed that I am at ISU and I am the associate vice resident for Student Affairs.”

Harmon said he is the best candidate for the job because of his internal knowledge and past experience with the university.

“I look at it as a fortune of being an internal candidate because I have the opportunity that many of you know me, you know who I am, you know how I’m built, you know what makes me tick, you know there’s no mystery … I am what I am,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to take this opportunity to another level.”

Harmon said his first 100 days in his new position would consist of “listening, listening, listening” and developing a team of professionals ready to take on new challenges. He plans on facing enrollment management, student success and building a new student life center in his new position.

“Enrollment management does not mean just cutting enrollment. …What enrollment management is, is how you focus your energy, how you focus your programs — your resources,” Harmon said.

One of those resources is understanding a student’s sense of belonging, he said. Harmon plans to work “hand-in-hand” with Reginald Stewart, vice president of diversity and inclusion, to understand what students need.

“The two of us together can partner to make sure that students have opportunities as well as faculty and staff to learn and grow,” he said.

Harmon said he also wants Iowa State to be known to have the best health, wellness and safety programs in order for students to feel a sense of belonging and ensure their success.

“We’re known for excellent academic programs, we’re known for having excellent learning opportunity programs, we’re known for having student involvement with over 900 student organizations, we’re known for many things,” Harmon said. “Right now, we’re not known for having the best health, wellness and safety programs … but it will change. We have to make this a top priority because this is dealing with the safety and well-being of our students.”

Harmon said he would provide alcohol and substance abuse tasks forces especially for the Ames community and for game days. He wants to provide more services for students with documented disabilities and expand mental health services for students.

A new student life center would be Harmon’s biggest goal as senior vice president for Student Affairs, he said.

“My big vision … is that we need to start thinking about a new student life center — a new version of student services that would include places to dine, places to study,” he said. “We need to think about that now and start planning. What we have now isn’t enough. It was probably enough when we were at 30,000, but we’re at 36,001 and growing.”

Harmon hopes to collaborate with other divisions within the university to “increase persistence in graduation rates and to eliminate achievement gaps” between white students and students of color. African-American students, Latino students and international students all have acceptance rates of roughly 80 percent and all roughly drop 20 percent in graduation rates, while white students only drop around 10 percent.

“Those gaps have to be eliminated, I’m working extremely hard … we have to narrow down what the issues are that are causing these gaps,” he said. “I don’t want to wait until [students are] on their last leg, I want to make sure we can work with them on the front end.”

Harmon’s top priority is student success and understanding the problems that students face in order to fix them on the forefront.

“In all cases, we can’t magically give [students] everything [they need], let’s be very honest, but it’s a matter of what can we do with the resources we have,” Harmon said. “It’s our obligation to give them the best we can give them. Often times, many of our students may not always bring their issues and concerns to the tables until there’s a crisis. We need to understand the issues before there’s a crisis.”

Harmon said he has “the good working knowledge of this institution” along with background and experience to be successful in this position. He compares his knowledge and experience with Iowa State as flavors to a sauce that is ready to enjoy.

“I feel very comfortable saying I will be successful in this job,” Harmon said. “I’ve been inside and I’ve seen the sauce being made, but now I’ve got all the ingredients to make my own sauce and make a sauce that will take us to another level, and if I get that opportunity, hopefully we can enjoy that sauce together.”