New Dean/VP of Student Affairs

Dear Members of the Skidmore Community,

I write to announce Cerri Annette Banks as our new Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs, effective August 1, 2016. Cerri currently serves as Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

I am truly thrilled to welcome Cerri Banks to our community. She brings an extraordinary level of experience in the increasingly complex world of student affairs. Cerri is uniquely qualified to lead a division that oversees every facet of our students' lives outside of the classroom. Her background and insights will be invaluable in the President’s Cabinet and across our campus.

Here at Skidmore, Cerri will oversee 134 employees and five offices within Student Affairs, including athletics, campus life, career development, student diversity programs, and student academic services.

She replaces Interim Dean and Vice President Gail Cummings-Danson, who held the role for the past academic year after the departure of former Dean and Vice President W. Rochelle Calhoun for a vice presidency at Princeton University. Gail will return to her previous role as Skidmore's athletics director in the fall. I want to thank Gail for her extraordinary service stepping up to the interim role while also maintaining her duties as A.D. During this past year, she has helped us deal with a number of daunting challenges, and she has done so with intelligence, wisdom, and grace.

Cerri has held the Mount Holyoke position since July 2011. She oversaw a staff of 70 and a $5.4 million annual budget; in addition, she served on the President's Cabinet, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, the Academic Priorities Committee, and numerous other high-level boards.  

Previously, Cerri was Dean of William Smith College in Geneva, New York, after serving there as a faculty member, interim dean, and director of the President's Commission on Inclusive Excellence.

Between 1997 and 2006 she received B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Syracuse University, where her areas of study included cultural foundations of education. A scholar of multiculturalism and diversity in education, she has written two books and produced scores of articles, book chapters, and presentations on culturally relevant teaching and learning and other subjects.

Active in key higher-education organizations over the course of her career, Banks has won a wide array of honors, awards, and scholarships. A graduate of Monroe Community College before transferring to Syracuse, she was inducted into Monroe’s Hall of Fame. 

I want to express my deep gratitude to a very strong search committee that included Mary Lou Bates, Gail Cummings-Danson, Corey Freeman-Gallant, David Howson, Terri Mariani, Tashawn Reagon '16, Natalie Taylor (vice chair), Charles Tetelman '16, and Joshua Woodfork (chair). And many thanks to all the students, faculty, and staff members who interacted with our finalists and offered insightful feedback. I also want to compliment our search partners Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates, who ably assisted us and provided us with a remarkable pool of talented candidates.

Cerri is excited to join our community, meet more of our students, and collaborate with partners across the campus.  Please join me in welcoming our new colleague.