Dean of Student Development John Frazier will soon be leaving the Baker family to be closer to his own.
Baker University President Pat Long announced through e-mail Tuesday that Frazier has accepted the position of vice president and dean of student affairs at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. MUC is a liberal arts college with about 2,200 students.
“It’s very similar to Baker,” he said. “The bottom line for (my wife and I) is it’s very close to home for both of us.”
Frazier, who is originally from Tiffin, Ohio, said he decided to accept the position to be closer to family. After Frazier’s wife, Kim, had several health complications earlier in the year, he said they felt it was better to be closer to their aging parents.
Frazier, who began at Baker in summer 2004, said the decision was made Sunday after receiving the offer from MUC.
“My wife and I have been thinking about it and praying for guidance for the last several weeks,” he said. “Then I received the offer from MUC on Friday and made a decision over the weekend.”
The Fraziers and their three children will move back to Ohio over the summer. Frazier’s last day at Baker will be June 30, giving him one day before he begins at Mount Union July 1.
“It was a really tough decision,” he said. “I’m really going to miss the students, and I hopefully have some long-term, lifetime friendships I have developed here with the faculty, staff and the students, especially with the student development team members.”
Associate Dean of Students Shelby Coxon said Frazier has been an excellent boss at Baker.
“I’m very sad,” she said. “He was just very personable. He would do anything for you. He’d bend over backward for anyone.”
Long called the move an understandable decision.
“I knew that eventually he was going to move to be closer to his family. I’m just grateful I got to work with him for a year,” she said.
Senior Jon Xenos said he’s grown close with Frazier during their work together.
“He’s been like a father figure to me,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and I think the campus has, too. He’s had a huge impact on the students of Baker University, and he will be missed.”
Long said she has high expectations of Frazier.
“I think John will be a university president one of these days. He’s got the right skill set, so this is a great step for him,” she said. “I’m always sad when we lose really good people, but I’m also extremely happy when they have opportunities to move out and up. It helps higher education as a whole.”
Frazier said Long has served as one of numerous role models during his three years at Baker.
“Working with Pat Long and the character and integrity she has, she was very caring and empathetic about my situation and my desire to get closer to home,” he said.
Frazier said he has always had guidance from Baker’s staff as well.
“Baker was my first dean of students position, and I’m very thankful that there were some key people to help break me in. If it wasn’t for them, my transition would have been much more difficult than it was,” he said.
Long said she has been thinking about filling the position but hasn’t made any concrete plans, as she’s been working on the provost search.
“I will, of course, have a committee with faculty, students and administrators,” she said. “The tricky one with this is that we’re going right into summer.”
Long said she would like to fill the position by the beginning of the fall semester. Because of the time constraint, she said she expects to conduct a regional search instead of a national search shortly after the provost is announced next week.
“What I’d love is someone who’s fairly local, really knows the Midwest, knows small liberal arts institutions,” she said. “I’d be willing to look at someone who’s looking for their first deanship. That’s what we had when we got John, and that’s been a wonderful three years there.”