Meet New VP and Dean of Student Life Bomani Spell
The new fall semester brings with it a new Vice President and Dean of Student Life on campus. Bomani Spell from Tuskegee, Alabama, is ready to hit the ground running.
“I am humbled to have been selected to work with such a dedicated and dynamic staff who have shown the ability to put students first and display a team approach in everything they do,” says Dean Spell. “I look forward to partnering with our various student groups in analyzing how Student Life can better assist in creating a better student atmosphere for our campus and our surrounding community.”
Dean Spell has spent the last four years as Dean of Students at Tuskegee University, where his duties and responsibilities were very similar to what he will be doing at Westminster.
Previously, he was a term instructor in the Africana Studies Department at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where he taught four sections of “Black American Experience in a Pluralistic Society” and handled the duties of college orientation and first-year experience.
From 2010-2012, he was Director of Trio Programs for the Student Support Services and Educational Talent Search at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Currently, Dean Spell is finishing his work on a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He holds master’s degrees in both higher education administration and history and a B.A. in history, all from SIU.
While in graduate school, he worked with juveniles as a team leader and supervisor with Southern Illinois Regional Social Services. He has also served as Associate Director of Student Judicial Services at the University of Texas at Austin and Director of Student Support Services and Child Care Grant at Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Illinois.
Dean Spell has written a $10,000 grant for the Avon Foundation for Women and was the primary investigator and author for a $110,000 Illinois HECA Grant for Shawnee Community College.
He was a co-presenter and publisher of a paper for the Journal of Negro Education entitled “Institutional Characteristics and their Impact on Graduate Rates,” and hosted 50 area junior high school students in an introduction to career fields at Southern Illinois University.
“As the new Vice President and Dean of Student Life, my goals are to continue to build an educational foundation of leadership, citizenship, and maturation through volunteer services,” says Dean Spell. “Greek life, intramural sports, career services, spiritual learning, and a host of other services we offer. My philosophy is to prepare our students for the rigors of leadership in a world in desperate need of those who are able to navigate through different customs, cultures, languages, and ideals.”
