University College Dean Bea González and former senior vice president and dean of student affairs at Syracuse University Barry Wells will join Chancellor Kent Syverud’s leadership team as special assistants.

Both González and Wells will work directly with Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz and will report directly to Syverud and begin their positions on Feb. 1.

Syverud announced the appointments on Monday in an SU news release. He also announced that Martin J. Whitman School of Management Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs Amanda Nicholson will lead an initiative to get input from students across campus and to create new communications tools to help SU better connect with students.

González will work in areas related to student affairs and will continue her role as University College dean during her time as special assistant, according to the release. González joined University College in 1984 as an academic adviser and was named dean in 2007. In the fall, she served as the liaison between THE General Body, a coalition of student organizations, and the administration during the group’s 18-day sit-in in Crouse-Hinds Hall.

Wells served as senior vice president and dean of student affairs from 1995–2008. He led the creation of the Office of Learning Communities, the LGBT Resource Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, among others. After leaving that role in 2008, Wells served as a consultant to the university in areas such as diversity and minority student recruitment and retention.

“Bea and Barry have decades of experience at our University and will bring vast knowledge and expertise that will benefit students and the full campus community,” Syverud said in the release.

Nicholson spent 20 years in the retail management field before entering higher education and becoming a professor at SU. She received the Inspiration Award for work as a mentor of awardees of the Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship in 2013. She helped launch the Goodman IMPRESS program at Whitman, a program that is intended to prepare students for life after college. Her work in her new role has already started, according to the SU news release.