Lamar R. Hylton, Ph.D., joins the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Board of Directors as the Region Four-East Director for the 2023-2025 NASPA board term. NASPA is the leading student affairs organization whose mission is to bring professionals from colleges and universities together and ensure students have a quality educational experience.
As Regional Director, Hylton will represent the interests of student affairs educators in 7 states and 1 Canadian province to the NASPA Board of Directors. He has been involved in the national organization for about 15 years, ever since he started working in student affairs. Over the years, Hylton has been able to gain a lot of experience by participating in NASPA or serving in other leadership positions.
Hylton shared some of the other aspects of NASPA that helped him make the decision to run for the board of directors.
“I am really pleased with how NASPA serves as a voice in a lot of lobbying efforts and matters around legislation and law that pertain to higher education,” Hylton said. “They give advocacy in that way on behalf of the membership.”
The process of selecting NASPA Regional Directors began in Oct. 2021. Hylton submitted his application and waited. Voting for NASPA members began in Jan. 2022, and Hylton found out he was voted in as Region Four-East Director-Elect by his fellow NASPA region members in Feb. 2022.
“I was elated. I have looked to former Regional Directors in awe and really aspired to be like them,” Hylton said. “To get a call from the president of NASPA saying you've been elected was just a thrilling, exciting, overwhelming experience.”
Hylton hopes that holding this NASPA position will illuminate the student affairs work happening at Kent State and bring new insights to enhancing student success at the university
“I certainly hope that it gives some visibility and prominence to the work happening at Kent State. We have an incredible student affairs and student services team at this university,” Hylton said. “Also, in turn, I hope to bring new knowledge and best practices about shaping the student experience, back to the university, the students and the community here.”
Hylton is shadowing the current Regional Director to understand the inner workings of the position before he takes over in March 2023. However, Hylton already has goals for his term as Region Four-East Director.
“I'm probably most excited about the opportunity to build upon the great work that has already taken place for our region. It is in a very strong position in a number of ways. And I'm excited to build upon that strength,” Hylton said. “Again, I've had a lot of great examples of regional directors that precede me. And so being able to make them proud and to continue the legacies that they've left and establish my own legacy as a regional director, I think it's really exciting.”
To watch Hylton's acceptance video, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGYorJdE6Cs
To learn more about the Division of Student Affairs, visit www.kent.edu/studentaffairs.
To learn more about NASPA, visit www.naspa.org/home.