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Dear AU Community,

With the cheers of more than 3,300 newly graduated AU Eagles and their families still ringing in Bender Arena, it is a time of great enthusiasm and momentum. Our students are thriving in many ways, thanks to their hard work and the support of our community. Our staff, our faculty, and our alumni dedicate their time, expertise, and care to help our students fulfill not only their purpose, but also their dreams.

It is a core part of our mission to provide current and future students with outstanding opportunities and support structures so they can pursue their goals at American University. Today, I am excited to announce the next important step in this ongoing work with the appointment of Raymond Lu-Ming Ou as vice president of student affairs and Evelyn Thimba as vice president of undergraduate enrollment management. Raymond will join us on July 3, and Evelyn will start on July 10.

Raymond and Evelyn come to the AU community at an important moment of opportunity as we move forward on our student thriving priorities, including the Student Thriving Complex and its many spaces for student gathering, wellness, academic and social support, and community building; increased investments in financial aid; and residence hall renovations. They will partner with our strong Student Affairs and Undergraduate Enrollment teams and engage the full AU community in this critical student-centered work.

With a dedicated focus on student well-being, Raymond will play a vital role in supporting our students and building the AU community of the future. Raymond previously served as vice president of student affairs at Brandeis University, where he led key student life programs including community service; conduct; disabilities services; family programs; graduate student affairs; health, counseling, and wellness promotion; residence life; and spiritual life. He has also held roles as senior associate dean of student affairs at Tufts University, associate dean of student life at Simmons University, and assistant dean of Yale College (the undergraduate branch of Yale University). Raymond received a master of science in clinical counseling from Johns Hopkins University and a doctor of education in organizational leadership from Northeastern University.

Evelyn joins AU from Drexel University, where she served as senior vice president for enrollment management. Creating an enrollment strategy built on a student lifecycle management model and a fierce advocate of access and opportunity, Evelyn oversaw the largest increase in first year applications to Drexel University through targeted expansion in both domestic and international markets. This success follows a five-year trend of increased applications and the enrollment of the three largest and most diverse classes in the university’s history. Under Evelyn’s leadership, the enrollment strategy has allowed Drexel to not only reach enrollment success but equally strong student success measures of retention and graduation rates. Prior to her time at Drexel, Evelyn spent more than a decade and a half at New York University in increasingly senior admissions roles, including associate dean and director of admissions. She holds a bachelor of science in leadership and management studies from New York University.

As you know, we are recalibrating several key leadership roles to best meet the needs of students and address the changing landscape of higher education today and into the future. Raymond and Evelyn are exceptional leaders in their respective fields whose records of success will help them shape the next chapter of student affairs and undergraduate enrollment at AU in partnership with the teams who advance this critical work every day. 

I want to thank Sarah Baldassaro for serving as our interim vice president of student affairs and inclusive excellence. She will work with Raymond as he transitions into his role and remain as interim vice president of inclusive excellence while we finish the ongoing search for that position, which we hope to have completed in the fall. And I want to thank Andrea Felder for serving as interim vice president of enrollment management. Andrea will work with Evelyn during her transition and then resume her role as vice provost for undergraduate enrollment. I also want to thank all the members of the AU community who participated in the search processes for these critical roles and helped us select these excellent new members of the AU team.

Please join me in congratulating Raymond and Evelyn and welcoming them to American University.

Sincerely,

Sylvia