Architects of student life

For Ajay Nair, serving as Senior Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs is more than just a long job title. In his eyes, Nair is a student advocate, “a difference maker.”

Nair is among the hundreds of individuals who work within Penn’s administration — a facet of Penn life that students may rarely encounter directly.

He oversees student life initiatives throughout campus, including the realms of Greek life, campus-wide events and student crisis management.

However, he said his favorite role is “having conversations with students about their lives” and helping them reach their fullest potential as individuals and leaders.

After gaining experience as a student activist and leader at Penn State University, Nair discovered his professional calling in the world of student affairs.

Now a professor and administrator at Penn, Nair has devoted much of his time to the University, serving as a Faculty Fellow in Rodin College House, where he resides with his wife and two children. Penn has become his “backyard” where he and his family can interact with students and better understand their experiences, play catch on high rise field and attend student performances.

Nair speaks constantly with students about the issues that affect them, such as open expression, gender-neutral restrooms and partnerships among student groups.

“This is the greatest job ever … and I can’t see doing it anywhere else.”

Wharton senior and Undergraduate Assembly Vice President Faye Cheng said she feels “lucky” that administrators like Nair have their doors open to students and are willing to support their endeavors. To Cheng, Nair is an “advocate for student voices.”

Though many administrators often do not have time to talk with every student on a regular basis, Cheng said this year’s UA steering committee meetings will host various administrators and be open to all students, giving everybody the opportunity to interact and express their ideas freely.

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Like Nair, Associate Director of New Student Orientation and Academic Initiatives Troy Majnerick is heavily involved in students’ lives, even before their Penn careers officially begin. Overseeing planning for NSO events and helping plan theme years, such as 2011’s Year of Games, Majnerick works continuously with Peers Helping Incoming New Students, the Residential Advisory Board and transfer student organizations, among other groups.

Working with student coordinators, Majnerick plans NSO with what he sees as a “realistic” viewpoint of what will benefit freshmen, transfer and exchange students.

Despite the “centralized” administration at Penn, Majnerick works to emphasize collaboration between departments and organizations to combine resources and improve students’ experiences.

As Majnerick’s former student coordinator, 2011 Wharton graduate Brandon Crowfeather found that “NSO is one of the biggest moments of your Penn career … If you enjoy NSO, you have Troy to thank.”

By integrating more “continuous activities into the year” following NSO, such as free movie screenings at the Rave theater, Majnerick said he hopes students can feel at ease while adjusting to Penn.

Originally from New Orleans and an avid Saints football fan, Majnerick relocated to New Jersey for high school and college. When he arrived at Penn nearly a decade ago, he faced challenges in adjusting to a new place and environment. The challenge of his experience translates into his planning for NSO, giving him perspective on what students new to Penn and Philadelphia should do to integrate into the community.

Majnerick said he finds satisfaction not from his paycheck, but from the relationships he builds and the outcomes he sees. “I never wake up not liking this job,” he said.

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Andy Binns shares a similar passion for his role at Penn. As a professor in Biology since 1980, Binns — who now serves as Vice Provost for Education — runs a laboratory in addition to his greatest responsibility as Penn’s primary education authority, overseeing academic initiatives as well as entities such as faculty councils, new majors, the academic year calendar, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

“My job is helping people make connections,” he said of the skill he developed while chairing the Penn Biology department. As a faculty member, Binns believes his experiences give him better insight into the world of students, staff and faculty at Penn.

When he was asked to apply for his current position, Binns was initially concerned about the possibility of leaving his research behind and the fact that he had no formal administrative training, but he accepted the role as a “new challenge.”

“Penn has been good to me,” Binns said, and part of the decision to take the job was “to give back.”

UA President and Wharton and Engineering senior Tyler Ernst said his involvement with administrators, including Binns, has been an enjoyable experience. Unlike their counterparts at many other universities, Ernst said Penn’s administration is “extremely accessible and relatable,” and that Binns in particular is always “interested to listen” to students’ ideas.

Binns explained that while most students do not necessarily come in contact with his office directly, most of his work is concerned with issues “behind the scenes,” such as finding a replacement technology system for organizing student information and overseeing the future of undergraduate research.

Binns’s greatest priority is improving student access to academic experiences, which he accomplishes by connecting them to research opportunities, building faculty relationships and facilitating learning outside the classroom. For Binns, Penn is “a place of academic opportunity above all else.”

“We’re one of the best [research universities] in the world,” Binns said. “We want folks to have fulfilling lives, fun lives, but this is a place of academic opportunity above everything else, and I want that to be everywhere.”

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