People of Pitt-Greensburg: Dean Hoffman

There’s a new dean in town. Rebecca Leigh Hoffman stepped into the role of Dean of Student Life and Success at Pitt-Greensburg over the summer. Previously, her role was the Assistant Dean of Student Services. Hoffman has worked at the university for 19 years.

She started off as an Orientation Director, then in 2006, she became Assistant Dean of Student Services. In this role, Hoffman coordinated summer orientations, which entailed supervising Peer Leaders and student supervisors. Once she accepted this position, Hoffman knew that this would require more responsibility from her to make student’s experiences on this campus memorable.

 “I’ve always wanted to take that next step. I knew I had a vision for this department and I wanted to make some changes to make student life better,” Hoffman said. 

One of the changes she has already made includes changing the name of the Assistant Dean position. 

“We decided to change the name from assistant dean of student services to student life because our department thought this would better convey a clearer message of what we do,” Hoffman said.

In this new role, Hoffman has some new responsibilities compared to when she was assistant dean. 

“Dean is head of the division. I supervise housing, student life, career services, student involvement, the Academic Village, counseling services, orientations, and cornerstone,” Hoffman said. 

As she takes on these new responsibilities, Hoffman has been making sure this transition has been smooth so that she can still provide for students. Hoffman also mentioned that the position of assistant of student life and services is open and the department is looking to hire.

“It’s been busy, there’s been lots of transitions. We restructured our department, we added diversity and inclusion to the assistant dean’s responsibilities which has never been done before,” Hoffman said. 

Since Hoffman has been in this department for many years, she gathered some things she loves most about working with her department. 

“I enjoy working with the staff, we are all very collaborative, we love working with students and seeing them grow and develop,” Hoffman said. 

Hoffman also loves numerous things about campus. 

“This campus has a community feel. It feels like a place to belong, everyone cares about each other, and there’s lots of student interaction,” Hoffman said.

The academic year just started, but Hoffman has some high hopes for this school year. 

“I want to provide new opportunities, advocate for students, and give them anything they need. We want to come up with new ideas on how to cater student needs outside of the classroom, even if they are small,” Hoffman said. 

Dean Hoffman is ready to take on the year with her new role. Her office is in 219 Chambers Hall. Take a trip up there for any questions about student life at Pitt-Greensburg.