At the conclusion of this spring semester, Capital will be losing a beloved member of the academic success and student affairs teams. Assistant director of academic affairs Kelsey Jarrett has accepted a position as the honors program coordinator at The Ohio State University.
While serving as the honors program coordinator, Jarrett will also be pursuing her PhD in higher education with various possible emphases.
Jarrett received her bachelor’s in sociology with minors in business and math from Ohio State. She began working at Capital in July of 2014 shortly after attaining her masters of education, higher education, and student affairs from the University of South Carolina.
After experiencing campus life at two large institutions Jarrett was interested in experiencing the culture of a small liberal arts school and so was drawn to Capital.
“I was drawn to the mission, the work, and the holistic development of students and their success,” Jarrett said. “[Capital] has that holistic approach to student success which I really appreciate and that’s what drew me in here so I can contribute [to] giving students the best experience possible.”
In her time at Capital, Jarrett has been particularly impressed with the collaboration between Academic Affairs, faculty and the staff at Capital. She said she enjoyed being a part of that collaboration that always had students’ best interests in mind.
It is Jarrett’s ability to connect with her students that director of academic success Bruce Epps will miss the most about her.
“She is great with the students, and they respond well to her,” Epps said. “We will miss her at academic success.”
When asked which she will miss most about Capital, Jarrett quickly responded that without a doubt she will miss the students.
“The hardest part has been saying goodbye to all the students and those that I’ve gotten to know here,” Jarrett said. “Anyone that gets into student affairs does because of the students.”
The students will being missing Jarrett’s presence on campus as well.
“Her positivity never fails to brighten your day,” junior Tessa Friend said.
“I’ve known her since she first got here,” senior Kelsey Fairchild said. “She’s molded my Capital experience into what it is today.”
Jarrett admitted that she can’t choose one favorite memory from her time at Capital, as there are too many to choose from.
“I just want to give a big thank you to the Capital community for being a welcoming, collaborative, and innovative family,” Jarrett said. “There’s just really good people here, plain and simple.”
The academic success team will start the search process to fill the assistant director position this week.
