From Student to Dean

Courtesy photo from Paul Chuoy, UTRGV.

After serving the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for two years as the interim Dean of Students, Rebecca Gadson was appointed the permanent position in 2017. In addition to her role as Dean of Students, Gadson also serves as the Associate Vice President for Student Life. 

“The role that I have is to help support students as they navigate the university processes,” Gadson said.  

Gadson oversees the Center for Student Involvement, Student Media, Student Activities, Student Accessibility Services, the Student Food Pantry, the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and the Students Rights and Responsibilities. 

Gadson provides support for the expansion of the aforementioned departments which in turn, created a positive effect on student life and involvement. Furthermore, she also provides assistance to students that experience financial struggles, personal issues and family emergencies to allow for them to maintain their options for continuing their education.  

“I also serve as one of the foster care liaisons working with students who were formerly in foster care,” Gadson said. “We assist students that are currently enrolled or looking to attend the university and are interested in connecting with our support services.” 

Gadson’s own life has created an impact on her efforts to help students transition to and experience all that UTRGV has to offer. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and liberal arts for human services from the University of Minnesota-Morris, and a Master of Arts in counseling in higher education from Western Michigan University. 

“I entered [college] as a first generation, low-income student not knowing what to expect when I went to college,” Gadson shared. “I was a student of color at a predominantly white institution. I was a part of our minority student program in addition to living on campus to get connected to a sense of community.”  

As a college student, Gadson hadn’t put much thought into who ran a university and held the positions that assisted students in seeking a college education. Gadson’s college experience as a mentor with university organizations and her desire to enter a career field oriented towards helping people caused her to realize her passion lied with assisting college students adjusting to new lives.  

Gadson is no stranger to adjusting to new regularities as she was a part of the transition from the legacy institution UTPA to UTRGV. She dealt with finding ways to create a fresh sense of community as UTRGV has campus buildings throughout the RGV. 

On a similar note, adjusting to new normalcies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has been another task Gadson has dealt with as Dean of Students. 

As classes were altered to be conducted online in March of 2020, technology became increasingly important to understand and utilize. Gadson has embraced the fact that she needs to be available through different video conferencing programs such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams to accommodate anyone requiring her services. Virtual office hours, the continuation of food pantry services and constant communication are some of the many things that have been vital to the adaptations Gadson has undergone due to the pandemic. 

Gadson’s dedication to finding solutions to students’ issues has led her to keeping up with the UTRGV Students Facebook page, which has over nine-thousand members. Students constantly share their opinions regarding university policies and issues with anything concerning the university.  

“We want to know the questions students are asking because if one is asking, they aren’t the only one,” Gadson said. “I’ve taken the approach of seeing what the students are asking so I can know what to do about [an issue].” 

Gadson shared that the university has expanded services for counseling and virtual support groups. Embracing of technology and implementation of these new methods of communication have added to the outreach Gadson is able to provide for student experiences. 

“I think we have to balance [moving] forward the ways we offer our support and other services online,” Gadson said. “It’s all about the ease of access even once we are able to physically be on campus in the future.”