A high-ranking administrative job at a Southeastern Conference school with a winning football program in a town known for its hospitality and ranked in the top 50 of Forbes' Best Places To Retire sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Three have been nominated, but only one will be Auburn University's new vice president and associate provost of student affairs, a direct conduit between students and organizations and President Jay Gogue.
"It's an 80-hour week when you put in nights and weekends," said Jon Waggoner, University council member and interim vice president of student affairs. "It's very, very fun, but my advice to my successor would be to keep time for your family and your sanity because it's just a very demanding and busy job."
At Gogue's request, Waggoner served as interim VP of student affairs for the 2013-14 academic year after the previous VP, Ainsley Carrie, accepted a position during the summer of 2013 and left before a replacement was found.
"A good dean of student affairs at Auburn has been someone who just absolutely puts student needs and opinions first," Waggoner said. "Auburn runs best when we ask [the students] what you want in an institution, [rather] than if we make Auburn what old man and old women administrators want it to look like."
According to Waggoner, whomever is selected to fill the position will inherit a renewed energy from the student body to make its demands and ideas heard, which should make the transition between administrators easier.
The first of the three candidates, Corey King, has served as vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Florida Atlantic University in 2008.
As one of the fastest growing schools in the country with 30,000 undergraduate students, Florida Atlantic is already larger and more diverse than Auburn, King said.
"I think the biggest challenge in terms of being a large university is really trying to meet the demands of our diverse student population," King said. "We want to make the students feel like they're part of the community, so we want to create these smaller communities within the university where students can connect, whether it's through student organizations, or living on campus or Greek life. And so I think the challenge sometimes is making sure that all 30,000 of those students are able to connect to the University in some way."
If elected, King said he would create a VP of student affairs advisory council comprised of students with diverse viewpoints from across campus to hear directly about student concerns and issues.
King said he's out on the FAU Breezeway every Wednesday to talk to students about their organizations and events and maintains an open-door policy during office hours to meet the needs of anyone and everyone.
Most recently, Florida Atlantic created a student veterans resource center to provide a home away from home for returning military, as well increased benefits and services.
"I'm glad to say I was instrumental in helping to see that begin to grow on our campus," King said. "We are now considered a military veteran-friendly institution. We have a long way to go but I'm glad to have been a part of the beginnings of that at FAU."
The second candidate up for consideration, Brandon Frye, is no stranger to Auburn.
Before accepting his role as assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of West Florida, Frye served at Auburn from 2010 to 2013 as director of student development.
While at Auburn, Frye oversaw the management of the Office of Student Conduct, Student Advocacy and Case Management services, Student Crisis Response, the Office of Greek Life and served as an adviser to the International Student Organization and the Black Student Union.
"When I left Auburn, it was a natural progression of my career," Frye said. "At that time, there was not a dean of student affairs or an AVP spot that was open. I was ready for that next step in my career but I had to look outside of Auburn."
Frye called the decision to leave Auburn a tough one, both for him and his family, but took the job at West Florida because he felt his particular skill set could help move that university forward.
Now that there's a vacancy in this position at Auburn, Frye said he is eager to return and bring some stability to student affairs.
"Whoever is hired will be the third VP that's been there in over a year," Frye said. "I think it helps that I've been in Auburn, I know and understand the Auburn culture, and I have relationships built with faculty, staff and students there, so my transition back might now have as big of a learning curve as someone who has not been in Auburn or worked at large SEC institutions."
The third and final candidate for the VP of student affairs is Bobby Woodard, the current associate vice chancellor for student involvement and leadership at East Carolina University.
"I come from a small town in North Carolina and family is big for me," Woodard said. "When you walk around Auburn, you don't see Alabama. You don't see Georgia. You don't see Mississippi State. You see Auburn T-shirts. You see Auburn flags and the pride in Auburn. That is something that every student faculty member have in common, that they love Auburn. I was only there as a visitor for a couple of days and I liked how comfortable I felt visiting there."
Student-led traditions at East Carolina, such as wearing all purple on Fridays during football season, are initiatives Woodard said he would like to incorporate into the Auburn community.
Though he has a passion for recreational sports and intramurals, Woodard said the student affairs position is about more than coordinating events and communications with the University.
"My job is to be an advocate for those students to higher administration and the local Auburn community - not just the school, but the city of Auburn and the police force as well," Woodard said. "My job also when I get to campus is to attend some of the meetings of the deans of colleges so they know what their students do outside of their colleges and how we together can make that holistic experience at Auburn better. Research shows that if we help the students do that it helps them graduate quicker."
All candidates have confirmed that, in the event they are not selected as the new VP of student affairs, they would remain at their current positions until a similar position opened at another university.
Whoever takes over won't be responsible for just the student body, but the greater Auburn family as well.
"What we know as the Auburn Family starts in student affairs," Waggoner said. "The reason Auburn people have such an affinity for the University is because of the interactions we have largely outside the classroom while we're students at Auburn. My advice would be just to realize how important this job is to what we consider the Auburn Family."
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