Student Success Champion Profile - Julie Sanzone Ed.D.

Back in her days as an undergraduate Philosophy student at Ohio State, Julie Sanzone worked in her residence hall as a resident advisor. She discovered a love of connecting with and providing individualized support to her fellow students, and became fascinated with the  dynamics between a student’s academic journey and their time outside the classroom. Today, as the associate director of academic initiatives for Housing and Residence Education, she focuses on the nexus between academics and student life, and furthers student success by connecting those experiences together.

“I really love and appreciate being able to speak both of those languages, and finding value in both of those experiences, and figuring out how to bring them together.”

Although her journey began at Ohio State, Julie visited many other stops before coming back to Columbus. Fresh out of undergraduate school, she served as a residence hall coordinator at Central Washington University, before moving on to earn her master’s degree at Penn State. As a graduate student, she had an assistantship that reported to the associate Vice Provost for academic affairs as well as an associate Vice President for student affairs. “I got to be in a space where I really saw where those two pieces came together, and that was really exciting and valuable for me.” After coming back to Ohio State, she was first a hall director that worked in a community with five Scholars programs, and then joined the Housing and Residence Education academic initiatives team in 2008.

As an associate director, Julie’s day-to-day work spans from providing individualized student support to pursuing big-picture projects. One of her key responsibilities is to work with partners across the university to provide high-quality learning experiences and residential curricula for Student Life’s living and learning communities (LLCs). In LLCs, students live in the same residence hall with others who have similar majors, interests, or career goals, and engage in activities that promote academic success, leadership development, and career readiness. For example, the Future Health Professionals LLC helps students explore the variety of options within the health and medical fields, and offers CPR training and other experiential opportunities. As another example, the Entrepreneurship LLC welcomes students from any major who want to explore and experience entrepreneurship early in their career through experiences such as Pitch Competitions, Startup Weekends, introductions to area entrepreneurs, and networking with venture capital providers.  

LLCs are now deeply engrained in the university, but creating that integration required years of focused and deliberate effort to build partnerships, collect data, and share results  about the benefits of LLCs on students’ academic outcomes and career readiness. Once met with skepticism, LLCs have become a key building block in the university’s student success strategy. Moving forward, Julie hopes to further embed LLCs into the broader residential experience. “Not every student wants or needs to participate in an LLC, but elements of those communities can be beneficial to all.” Julie’s team is up for the challenge of building broader and stronger partnerships that are mutually beneficial and allow increasing numbers of faculty, staff, and students to engage with the LLC network. Julie is proud of her team, who always stay student-centered in the face of structural challenges and changes. Serving and advocating for students is at the heart of their work, and Julie provides leadership to encourage her staff and their student communities to “push themselves and not just go for the easy solution.”

“Even though it's a big institution, there's a great deal of care to create that individualized student experience.”

Julie gets energy from her work, particularly when she sees the benefits of LLCs for individual students. “I love seeing a student finish their time in an LLC and talk about wanting to return to the program or giving back through mentorship or volunteering.” When asked for her advice to students, she said students should know there are many resources available to them, if they just feel comfortable enough to ask. Many staff and faculty are “willing to sit down with students, one-on-one, and get folks connected. And even though it's a big institution, there's a great deal of care for that individualized student experience here.”