Fifteen years after starting as a Ball State freshman, Mitch Isaacs, former associate director of student life, has come full circle — moving into a new position to help freshmen adjust to Ball State.
On Tuesday, Isaacs took on the role of retention and graduation specialist for full-time freshmen in the Office of Student Affairs. His role will include work with the 21st Century Scholars and commuter students.
Isaacs said he is excited for a new challenge and to continue his work with students, designing and running programs to encourage student retention.
“When I started with Excellence in Leadership, the challenge was to grow the program and raise profile of speaker series,” he said. “During my time with EIL, we met those goals, and now this is a new challenge — to help students stay at the university and have [the] best experience possible.”
The new position assumes some of the responsibilities formerly held by a single retention specialist, who will now focus on sophomores and transfer students. This builds from his previous involvement starting the Commuter Ambassadors program, which helps commuter students build connections.
Lauren Berger has assumed Isaacs’ responsibilities as associate director of student life, including running the EIL program and working with the leadership studies minor.
Berger attended graduate school at Ball State from 2009 to 2010 in the student affairs administration in higher education program. During that time, she worked in the Office of Student Life.
“I’m excited to return to Ball State,” Berger said. “And to be a part of the culture of staff members and the opportunity to work with students and bring leadership forward.”
Isaacs said his new role takes him back to when he was a freshman, 15 years ago.
“Fifteen years later, I have the opportunity to help other freshmen figure out Ball State and have the best experience possible at a place that I love,” he said. “The opportunity to help new students have that kind of success and love at Ball State is really exciting.”
