Steve Sweet, director of student conduct and community standards at Quinnipiac, applied to become the Region 11 coordinator in the spring of 2022 and has served the New England area since.

Appointed by the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) Board of Directors, Sweet takes pride in the many facets of his job, he said.

Some of his responsibilities include fostering a spirit of collaboration, monitoring and communicating regional trends, maintaining regular communication updates with regional members, attending and participating in leadership trainings, facilitating peer learning and resource sharing and hosting regional events annually for all members to build community within the New England area.

“Serving as New England coordinator has allowed me to engage regularly and intentionally with other professionals from around the New England area and around the United States,” said Sweet. “Collaborating, learning and working with professionals from other campuses generates new ideas, best practices and also provides an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the excellence work we are doing at Quinnipiac. I receive regular legislative and policy updates impacting higher education, and this ensures that Quinnipiac is always a leader in policy development and compliance.”

Sweet’s work as a New England coordinator has complemented his role as the director of student conduct and community standards at Quinnipiac, he said, allowing him to engage in resource sharing with professionals from around the world and bringing those lessons back to Quinnipiac.

"My favorite part about my job on campus is the positive impact the student conduct process has on student success at Quinnipiac,” he said. "The Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards supports prevention efforts, bystander intervention training and partners closely with other university offices and together we help create a safe and inclusive university environment. Student conduct meetings are correlated with higher retention rates for students, and we can measure the positive learning that results from our work."

Most recently, Sweet served as the conference chair for the New England Conduct Officer Institute, an annual event in New England.

“In this role, I got to choose the venue, being the Rocky Top Student Center on our York Hill Campus, put out the call for proposals to the region, evaluate session topics, select presenters, manage all communications, build the budget, order catering, manage the registration process and serve as host, running the institute on the day of,” he said. “I also co-presented twice at the institute on the topics of 'How to Prepare for a Student Conduct Meeting' and 'Conflict Evolution: Transform Your Mediation Skill Set' with Steffany Almanzar, associate director of student conduct and community standards at Quinnipiac, and Kristina Lynch, director of CARE for student affairs at Quinnipiac.”

Sweet’s goals for the institute conference this year were to provide excellent and expert content for institute attendees, and to show colleagues from around New England how beautiful and impressive the campus is at Quinnipiac, he said.

Additionally, the institute had two content tracks, the foundations track for new student conduct professionals, and the returner track which Sweet improved through the expansion of more diversity-based content areas.

The foundational track followed a 4-part curriculum throughout the day, covering legal and historical foundations, how to prepare for conduct meetings and how to engage in meaningful dialogue and decision making, Sweet explained, while the returner track covered the topics of neurodiversity, alternative dispute resolution, mediation and vicarious trauma.

Come September 22, Sweet is looking forward to playing a role in the upcoming ASCA New England Drive-In Conference at Johnson & Wales University on the topic of academic integrity, supporting the call for proposals and the marketing and communications elements of the conference.