Vice President for Student Life Tom Rocklin has announced he intends to retire in July 2017 after serving the University of Iowa in various capacities for 30 years.

Rocklin joined the UI in 1986 as a faculty member in the Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations. He also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching, and later joined the Office of the Provost where he served as the associate provost for undergraduate education, as well as senior associate provost and vice provost.

“I have been fortunate to have a career doing things that matter to me and working with people I admire,” Rocklin says. “It has been a privilege.”

During his time in the Provost’s office, Rocklin began the Student Success Team (SST), a grassroots collaborative including faculty and staff committed to improving undergraduate student success. The SST has grown to over 500 members and has been responsible for many significant initiatives including first-year seminars, On Iowa!, early intervention programs, The IOWA Challenge, and supplemental instruction.

“Tom’s ability to inspire collective action, especially in tough times, is one of his many talents,” says Sarah Hansen, associate vice president in the Division of Student Life and the coordinator of the Student Success Team. “He has cultivated an ethos of positive restlessness where the SST continues to look at what we can change and how we can improve.”

Rocklin was appointed vice president for student life in 2010 after serving in the role on an interim basis for two years. Under Rocklin’s leadership, the UI has achieved a long list of accomplishments related to student success, including:

• increased collaboration across organizational boundaries;
• establishment of On Iowa!, which welcomes over 7,000 new students yearly and involves over 1,000 faculty, staff, and student volunteers; 
• creation of the UI’s first ever alcohol harm reduction plan, leading to a 28 percent decrease in high-risk alcohol use among undergraduates;
• construction of two state-of-the-art residence halls, the first added to the UI inventory in more than 40 years;
• creation of effective early intervention structures to identify students at-risk for failure or dropout; and
• reopening of a rejuvenated Iowa Memorial Union, now experiencing record usage by students and student organizations.

“Tom has made a huge difference on this campus,” says University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld. “One of his legacies will be his work with the broader community to address the drinking culture at the university. His ability to build relationships and work through complex problems resulted in a significant decrease in binge drinking among undergraduates. He’s also been a trusted advisor to so many and is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.”

The UI will begin the search process for Rocklin’s successor in January.