Senior associate dean of Student Affairs Liz Agosto ’01 will leave the College on June 9 to become the dean of students at Amherst College. Her replacement has not yet been named.
Agosto first came to Dartmouth in 2007 as program coordinator for the Collis Center and became senior associate dean in 2014. Regardless of which position she held at the College, Agosto said that her role has always been “to amplify the voice of students, particularly those who feel like they can’t on their own.” Agosto said that her new position at Amherst will be more involved in overseeing residential life; religious and spiritual life; and conduct and case management.
“I love my role at Dartmouth and I love the work that I am doing,” she said. “The Amherst position came up, and the idea was exciting. It really was just a fortuitous moment for another growth opportunity, and I am ready for the next step.”
Agosto added that one of the highlights of her time here was the creation of the First Year Student Enrichment Program, which is a peer network meant to help first-generation college students navigate the Dartmouth experience. As a first-generation student herself, Agosto described the program as one she wishes she had access to when she attended Dartmouth.
“In 2009, a group of students decided that FYSEP was a program they needed, and they created it with a very limited amount of support from the College,” she said. “I was lucky enough to be asked to lead that charge.”
When Agosto first worked with the program in 2010, 27 first generation students participated. Since then, the program has grown and has helped more than 100 students from the class of 2022. Agosto also explained that she is also proud of the strides the College has made against sexual violence through her involvement with the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative and Dartmouth’s Student Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault.
“There is a lot of work to do, but we have invested so much time and energy,” Agosto said.
Executive chair of SPCSA Paulina Calcaterra ’19 said that Agosto’s guidance has been invaluable.
“[Agosto] is very supportive of all of SPCSA projects and ideas, and even informally, she is always available to give us her perspective,” Calcaterra said. “I am really happy for her because I think she will make a great dean of students at Amherst and I think she will be a leader at the institution. She has been a big part of my time here and is probably the staff member that I am closest to and feel the most connected to.”
Student Assembly vice president Nicole Knape ’19,who regularly works with Agosto, also added that Agosto genuinely cares about the student experience.
“Dean Agosto reached out to [Student Assembly president] Monik Walters ’19 and I the moment we won the election and wanted to talk about our goals for the year, which I thought was really incredible,” Knape said. “She has always made herself an available resource and has advised us from both the perspective of an alumnus and an administrator.”
Agosto said she will be using her last term at Dartmouth to help ease the transition within the department and say goodbye.
“I am in a weird in-between space of knowing this will be a great opportunity, but this has been my home for more than a third of my life, considering undergrad and working here,” she said. “Change hasn’t been easy and I would urge the community to continue to care for each other and the space. I have learned more from the students than I think that I have given them, so I want to say thank you.”
Correction appended (April 1, 2019): This article has been updated to reflect that Agosto joined Dartmouth in 2007, not 2009, and that she first served as program coordinator of the Collis Center.
