Over the last two weeks, four candidates for the vice president of Student Affairs position have held forums to talk about their experience as well as goals if they get the position. 

At the end of the 2025 fall semester, former Vice President of Student Affairs Teri Hall retired from her role after nearly a decade of work. As Director of the Rhatigan Student Center Kevin Konda temporarily fills the role, the university has hired a search firm to look for a replacement and has narrowed down the search to four candidates. 

The vice president of Student Affairs works under university President Richard Muma to oversee various programs — like Student Engagement and Belonging and the Office of Student Accommodations and Testing — that focus on student life. 

Candidates were given around 15 minutes to present during their forums with a questioning period after. 

Cesquinn Curtis

Cesquinn Curtis, Associate vice president for Student Affairs at Kent State, said he brings a unique approach because of his experience across Student Affairs, strategic planning and communication. 

“This allows me to see and pivot and work with my colleagues a lot differently so that we can lift and leverage resources,” he said at his March 23 presentation. “… (I’m a) builder of integrated systems.”

Curtis talked about his ability to connect with students, saying, “I’m authentic. I’m visible and I am a relational leader.”  

“The students at my current institution joke because I do everything in the suit,” he said. “My colleagues joke when I wear jeans with a blazer and a button-down on Fridays. That is me. I’m authentically who I am.”

He emphasized the importance of student life to the university’s success as a whole, and campus safety. Curtis was at Kent State in 2018 when demonstrators clashed on campus over open carry policies. 

“We had Antifa — left-leaning — and Turning Point (USA) — right-leaning — show up on campus,” he said. “Rifles, semiautomatic handguns. We’re a public campus. We knew it was coming.”

He described the response he and other campus staff took to keep students safe, working with local, state and federal law enforcement. 

“I have experience making sure that policies and resources align in support of those who do that work and the offices that do that work,” he said. “That’s what I’m most proud of. 

“Kent State just happens to be — based off of history — a very activist campus. If it happens here, which I pray it doesn’t, I will probably be the calmest person in the room because it’s just like, ‘Alright, another day.’” 

Curtis said his unique way of approaching Student Affairs leadership would make him a valuable addition to Wichita State.

“I lead at the intersection of strategy and care,” Curtis said. “What that means is, it’s data-driven, it’s data-focused, it’s data-informed. But also, I’m people-centered. I care. That is what matters. The 33,000 students we serve at my current institution — eight-campus system, multiple locations, even across the globe — will understand and know and say that this is who I am. 

“We have to do what’s best for the students. We have to do what’s best for the institution and make sure we’re aligned to the priorities that exist.”

Jamarco Clark

Jamarco Clark, the current Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Illinois Springfield, spoke about the experiences he brings and the mindset he carries with him from years of experience with Student Affairs, directing programs  and collaborations between departments. 

“Collaboration is extremely important to me,” he said at his presentation on March 25th. “(It’s) really important for me that our division is seen as one that is really working with everyone throughout campus to make the student experience the best they can be.”

Clark also said that he believes in helping all students. 

“I’m very clear and uncompromising that I’m everyone’s vice chancellor at my current institution,” Clark said. “So that means the 18-year-old, that means the 50-year-old student who’s continuing education, that means the post-traditional. I’m everyone’s vice chancellor, and so I truly believe in that idea of connecting every student.”

Clark said that another way he went about helping students was through finding their “four P’s,” explaining that the University of Iowa has a focus on assisting students in finding “their path, their places, their people and their purpose.”

“I want to make sure that our students never have that perception that they’re doing it alone,” he said.

When it comes to solving other issues, Clark said he uses a three-set process in most of his work: empathy, alignment and execution.

“It’s my job to make sure that I understand the people that I’m working with and navigating with, being able to build that culture, leading with that empathy to really understand and diagnose the situations at hand,” he said. “We’ve got to be aligned in our division, we’ve got to be aligned across campus, because that’s ultimately what’s going to help us create the greatest student experience that we can create.

He spoke about his vision for what WSU could be if he and WSU worked together.

“It will be a Wichita State where every student is truly connected, every student will be supported and every student will be future ready and every professional that we work with will feel in power to do the work that they need to do,” Clark said.

Katie Treadwell

Katie Treadwell is one of the four candidates for Wichita State’s next vice president of Student Affairs. From the University of Kansas as its current assistant vice provost of Student Affairs, Treadwell highlighted her crisis response experience. 

Before Treadwell’s current position at KU, she worked as KU’s director of student conduct and community standards from Jan. 2019 to Dec. 2021 where she handled student conduct violations as well as oversaw student conduct hearing officers, according to her Linkedin page. 

While working for her doctorate in education, adult learning and leadership from Columbia University, Treadwell’s dissertation focused on Student Affairs leadership dealing with college campus disasters. 

“My own experiences have led to really deep investigations and deep interest in how a university does crisis well, how we tell the story through that,” Treadwell said during her forum. 

The reason behind her interest, Treadwell said, was “a different story for a different day.” 

Treadwell emphasized the importance of Student Affairs making learning possible through its initiatives. 

“Everything that I do in Student Affairs and everything that I am thinking about with our teams, I am thinking about ‘How do we make learning possible?’” Treadwell said. “‘How does what happens in Student Affairs make possible everything else that happens at the university?’” 

Academically, students are typically doing what the university wants them to do, according to Treadwell, like getting their degrees and going to classes. 

“Student affairs makes all of that possible through the housing, the dining, the engagement opportunities, the care, the mental health support, and so as I think about what it means to make learning possible, I think about shifting from student engagement to engaging students,” Treadwell said. 

Tredwell said that change in language “puts the work on me and on us to engage the student.” 

Eric Grospitch

Eric Grospitch, who’s served at several colleges in different capacities including his most recent role at Fort Hayes State University as a higher education consultant, is the fourth and final candidate for vice president of Student Affairs position. 

Grospitch has previously served as the vice president of Student Affairs at Washburn University. He said when former Vice President Teri Hall announced her retirement last fall, it piqued his interest.

“If you’re in Kansas, you kind of pay attention to what Wichita State is doing,” Grospitch said. “… Think about it, from students, from faculty, from staff, you’ve got it going on as an urban serving institution, now aspiring HSI (Hispanic-Serving Institution) program. The ability for us to connect and engage and do those pieces is really critical.”

Grospitch said he has five facets to what he wants to bring to Wichita State.

If chosen, he wants to highlight getting connected with the community, collaboration over competition, using data to drive conversations and people taking care of themselves in this “legislation exhaustion” facing the campus due to the recent activity in the Kansas legislature. 

“People are tired, right?” Grospitch said. “Every time you turn around, there’s something new that’s happening… We’re taking care of each other as well as taking care of our students.” 

He also said he wishes to continue the work of creating an engaging environment for students to feel like they belong. 

“One of my guiding focuses is the idea of marginality and mattering,” he said. “… How do we connect and help a student find they’re important to somebody on this campus; somebody is going to notice if they don’t show to class; somebody’s going to notice that they don’t leave the residence hall, somebody’s going to notice they’re in the corner of the Heskett center in tears. How are we connecting and engaging those pieces?”