LoMonaco currently serves as associate vice president for student affairs at the Rhode Island College of Design (RISD), where she oversees residence life and housing, disability support services, the Center for Student Involvement, and the offices of international student services, student support and administration, and health and wellness.
Centre President Milton Moreland is eager to welcome LoMonaco to the campus community and is confident she will make a significant impact.
“Barbara brings to Centre extremely relevant and meaningful skills and a set of experiences that will enhance and advance our vision at the College,” he said.
“With a strong passion for working in a residential liberal arts and sciences learning environment,” he added, “she is going to join our strong Student Life Office staff and immediately lead key discussions related to wellness and leadership that are core initiatives in our current strategic planning discussions.”
Among her many accomplishments at RISD, LoMonaco created two new staff positions of health educator and executive director of health and wellness, part of a new Integrated Center for Health and Wellness that co-located counseling and health services.
Deeply committed to social equity and inclusion, LoMonaco was also instrumental in integrating dialogue around race and anti-racism in student affairs.
While many things attracted LoMonaco to the vice president of student life opportunity at Centre, she said that the programs in place that support student success in concrete ways stood out as intriguing, as well as the tight-knit community, dedication to mentoring, focus on the liberal arts and sciences, and commitment to diversity and inclusion.
“It’s an exciting time to be joining Centre College and the student life team,” she said, “whose good work I look forward to supporting and amplifying to the broader campus community.”
LoMonaco plans to do a lot of listening in her first six months, acknowledging that there will be much to learn from students and the student life team about Centre’s culture, traditions and aspirations.
“Getting to know the student life team, the faculty, students and my senior staff colleagues will help me understand where our opportunities and challenges lie,” she added. “I’m also excited about contributing to the strategic plan and its implementation.”
Since her career began in the classroom as a faculty member, LoMonaco admits that it can be a challenge to bridge academic affairs and student life, but having had her feet in both worlds gives her a leg up.
“Students don’t see their lives divided along these lines, so co-curricular programs that support and enhance the academic experience will really enrich the community,” she observed.
Because mental health and wellness are always at the forefront of discussions in student affairs today, LoMonaco added, “it is increasingly important to focus on health education and programming that bolsters adjustment to college and coping. Building equitable and inclusive environments is also a critical component of a healthy campus community.”
As a former Kentucky resident, LoMonaco is also aware that Centre is surrounded by beautiful countryside, and she’s eager to think about extending programming to promote and utilize the College’s location, which she says has untapped potential.
“Enlivening, enriching and expanding the residential experience and thinking about these spaces as sites for learning and community is a wonderful opportunity for collaboration with students,” LoMonaco explained.
It was this kind of outlook that impressed Gabby Romines ’22, a psychology major and education minor from Louisville who served on the search committee.
“From the start, I could see how Dr. LoMonaco was genuinely interested in getting to know students and understand their experiences at Centre,” Romines said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the relationships that Dr. LoMonaco builds with students, faculty and staff,” she added. “Her warmth makes her easily approachable, and students will enjoy talking with her and quickly form bonds. She will help shape the Centre experience for every student—learning where the needs lie and addressing them through programming, policy and personal relationships.”
Search committee co-chairs Andrea Abrams, Centre’s chief diversity officer, and Gina Nicoletti, associate director of athletics, were also impressed with LoMonaco right from the start.
“I am very happy about the choice of Barbara LoMonaco,” said Abrams. “Her approach to and experience with diversity, equity and inclusion will make her a valuable partner. In addition, she has a warm and engaging demeanor that the students will appreciate.”
Nicoletti agrees.
“Barbara has a very engaging personality that immediately makes people feel welcomed and valued,” she said. “Her background in counseling, along with her previous strategic planning experience, will be an asset to the Student Life Office, which in turn will have a very positive impact on the co-curricular programs for students.”
With construction beginning in October on the new 135,000-square-foot Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence, Nicoletti said she is also “looking forward to Barbara’s experience and insight in continuing to build student-wellness initiatives” as part of this project.
Prior to her current work at RISD, LoMonaco served as vice present for student affairs at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.
There, her leadership portfolio included that institution’s Division III athletics program, the career development center, a center for student development that involved first-year programming, based on BIPOC student input, and a four-year, co-curricular leadership development program based on the social change model of leadership.
As well, LoMonaco oversaw the addition of equestrian as a varsity sport and junior varsity programs for baseball and men’s lacrosse, and also converted several part-time female coaches to full-time to improve gender equity. She also participated in the design and planning of a new $50 million residence hall and Salve Regina’s strategic planning process.
A native of Dallas, LoMonaco began her professional career in Kentucky at Transylvania University the year after completing her Ph.D. in anthropology at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Her dissertation, “Empty Nests and Anxious Lives,” examined the psychosocial construction of distress based on fieldwork in the small Greek island community of Thirassia. Later research was conducted in Alicudi, Italy.
She also earned her M.A. in medical anthropology and B.A. in philosophy at SMU.
After earning tenure at Transylvania as a member of the anthropology department, LoMonaco transitioned to administrative work there after being appointed vice president for student affairs and dean of students. In this role, she had oversight for religious life, civic engagement and community service, and athletics, in addition to residence life, student conduct, and diversity and inclusion.
A lover of the outdoors and country life, LoMonaco is hoping to find a small farm in or near Danville to call her new Kentucky home, where she can keep goats and at least one horse.
Leave a Reply