A doctor of philosophy, a master of science in education and a bachelor of arts with distinction, Todd Olson has been with the University of Denver for almost 16 years.
He has worked in seven student affairs positions, served on 12 committees, taught leadership classes and helped to bring such diverse projects as the Pioneer Leadership Program and Nelson Hall, the new resident hall, to DU.
Student affairs work brought Olson to DU, and this summer it will be taking him away. Olson has decided to leave his position as associate vice provost for Campus Life at DU to become associate vice president for student affairs at Georgetown University in Washington.
In August 1986 Olson came to DU as a resident director. After working in five other positions, he became associate vice provost for Campus Life in 1999. For the past three years he has managed annual budgets totaling $12 million and has overseen 40 full-time staff member, 10 graduate assistants and more than 100 student employees.
In his career at DU, he has instigated change in programs, policies and on-campus living.
Recently, he served as “owner’s representative” and “programmatic designer” of Nelson Hall, the $40 million residence hall scheduled to open in 2002.
He also played a leadership role in 1999 developing a “Greek Strategic Plan” to guide the development of the Greek system.
In 1994, he co-founded the Pioneer Leadership Program, a living-learning community focused on ethical leadership, and annually since then he has taught a course for the program entitled “Leading Teams.”
He was also a founding member of the National Coming Out Day Committee at DU in 1991.
Through his committee work, he has helped to develop a long-term land use and master plan for DU, helped develop the new admission interview process for prospective students, and has worked to build a positive relationship between DU and surrounding neighborhoods.
When asked why he has decided to leave DU, he said, “I’ve been here 16 years…it’s time for me to try something new…explore a different environment.”
Olson said, “I’ve loved working at DU…DU’s been home to me for a long time and there are a lot of people I will miss here.”
In early July, he will be taking a new position at Georgetown University, a Jesuit institute with 6,500 undergraduates. He said one of the attractions of the position was the prestige of the university; it is one of the top universities in the country.
He said it will be “a very interesting challenge.”
In his position as associate vice president for student affairs at Georgetown, he will be supervising the university’s career center, counseling center, minority affairs, student programs and residence life.
