Starting with the 2017-18 academic year, the Center for Service, Involvement and Leadership (CSIL) has been split into two separate organizations that will continue to service the students of SRU.
The CSIL served student groups and organizations for the past year under co-chairs Lauren Moran and Jeffery Rathlef.
Moran is the new director of Student Engagement and Leadership. Her office remains in the Smith Student Center as she and her team oversee over 190 clubs and organizations on campus, fraternities and sororities, the Student Government Association, and the planning that goes into large-scale events like Homecoming.
“Working with students is really my passion; I love the interaction I have with them on a daily basis,” Moran said. “Separating into two separate organizations has proven to give us more focus so far. With two chairs, it was harder to communicate and coordinate ideas with Jeffery. Now we’re able to grow based on our individual visions.”
Rathlef serves as the director of the newly formed Department of Community Engaged Learning. His department will be focused more on service projects in the Slippery Rock community and around the globe. Rathlef hopes to have ten programs dedicated to connecting students with larger issues like the opioid crisis or hurricane relief in places like Houston and Puerto Rico.
“We hope to have a significant number of on-campus groups involved in making a difference beyond SRU,” Rathlef said. “I’m confident that our social justice-oriented outlook will help students better understand their place in an ever-changing global community.”
Although separated, the two offices will continue to collaborate in helping SRU Students. The CSIL was responsible for instituting CORE to help clubs and organizations coordinate events and be a “one-stop shop” for students to meet all their academic needs in the near future.
Rathlef and his office are temporarily located in Spotts World Cultures Building until construction is finished on the library in Jan. of 2018. He is excited about the prospect of being able to separate organizations while continuing to help SRU students continue to make a difference.
“I have found that I have grown the most when I’ve embraced change,” Rathlef said. “This is an opportunity for Lauren and I to branch out and help a wider array of students affect the community positively.”
