Dr. Christopher Giroir will become head of the Arkansas Tech University Department of College Student Personnel on July 1.
He was appointed to the post by the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees on Thursday.
Giroir (photographed) will succeed Dr. Susan Underwood, who notified the university in November 2011 of her wish to step aside as department head and assume full-time teaching duties in the Department of College Student Personnel as of June 30, 2012.
The board accepted that change in assignment during its December 2011 meeting.
Underwood, who holds the rank of associate professor of college student personnel, was the founding faculty member of the Arkansas Tech CSP program. She served as program director from 2002-10. Underwood was named department head in July 2010.
Since its inception 10 years ago, enrollment the CSP program has grown from 11 students in fall 2002 to its current total of 177 students. It is the largest graduate program on the Arkansas Tech campus.
As of May 2011, the CSP program had produced 145 graduates. Research by the Department of College Student Personnel found that 137 of those graduates are employed, and 121 of the program’s graduates are employed in higher education.
The program began with one full-time faculty member and one student worker. Today, there are five full-time faculty members, four adjunct faculty positions, nine graduate assistants, one full-time administrative assistant and one student worker in the Department of College Student Personnel.
Giroir has served on the CSP faculty since 2008.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from McNeese State University, his Master of Arts degree in student personnel services from Northwestern State University and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in higher education administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Giroir served on the college student personnel faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi before joining the faculty at Arkansas Tech.
According to the department’s Web page, the Arkansas Tech Department of College Student Personnel offers a 36-hour Master of Science degree that is designed to “prepare passionate student affairs professionals to work in a variety of higher education settings.”
Click here to learn more about the Arkansas Tech Department of College Student Personnel.
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