With the many changes stemming from the administration this year, the most important but possibly unnoticed plans come from a brand new leadership role for Bellarmine. The job of Dean of Health and Safety, held by Nikki Maryanski, is an innovative way for Bellarmine to continue to care for the whole person. Maryanski has many goals for the current and future school years, but the most important goal for her is creating well rounded, safe, mentally healthy, smart students.
To understand this newly implemented role, the community needs to understand how Maryanski views her job on campus. Maryanski said, “A big part of who I am is the experience I bring.” This experience includes being an alumna of Seattle University, another Catholic, Jesuit institution. For Maryanski, this means bringing Jesuit teachings and morals into her approach as a dean.
Maryanski said, “You have to have balance in all these other places of your world,” when talking about comprehensive care for students beyond academics. This is a key example of Maryanski’s goal of implementing the Jesuit idea of care of the whole person into her job.
This Dean’s leadership model seems to be based on the idea and value of respect. Maryanski said, “it’s about creating an inclusive and socially just and validating environment that models mutual respect while encouraging critical thinking.” These ideas seem to drive all her goals that she has laid out for this year, and upcoming years.
For Maryanski, the key aspect of her role is her ability to connect with students. Maryanski said, “One of the things that drew me to Bellarmine…was the student-facing role.”
She compared her job at Bellarmine with her past one at Seattle University to highlight her excitement to connect with students one-on-one here.
“I got so high up that the only way I could see a student was if I calendared them,” Maryanski said. She continued on to explain how much she missed that relationship with students, and looks forward to that role in Bellarmine.
Thankfully for the students who have felt caught up in the many changes to Bellarmine life this year, Maryanski’s new role seems to not have, currently, many adverse effects for the student body. Although there will be changes, most of Maryanski’s plans seem to aim to shape and modify the plans and actions students already have in place.
