It was 1973 and a 27-year-old Lee June had two firm job offers from universities on the table. The first paid $6,000 more per year than the offer from MSU, a “huge difference” back then. But there was something about the offer in East Lansing that was just right — the university’s commitment to student needs, diversity and engagement.
“It turned out to be the right choice,” June said with a smile 38 years later, sitting at a desk he’s used to hold talks with many student leaders about their campus concerns.
For the last 16 years, June has served as vice president for Student Affairs and Services and associate provost for Academic Student Services and Multicultural Issues — two titles that never have been held conjointly by a faculty member at MSU.
When then-MSU President M. Peter McPherson and then-Provost Lou Anna K. Simon discussed giving June both the titles in 1994, they agreed to “experiment” to see if the dual roles would be effective for students. Now, that 16-year experiment is drawing to a close.
“I’ll let the historians judge whether it was successful or not,” June said.
A new season
One of June’s refrains at the university has been, “To everything there is a season.” Now, he believes that it is time for his “season” in the positions to come to a close.
He’ll step down Dec. 31.
While his tenure has been about expanding, maintaining and increasing services to students, he said the next vice president will focus on the Neighborhood Concept and using social media to deliver services to students. The university is working to reorganize the Department of Residence Life and Campus Living Services and June said the next person will help to reconceptualize how best to serve students.
“There’s a time to step in and a time to step aside,” June said. “For me, it’s a time to step aside.”
When June steps down from his position at the end of the year, he plans to assume a joint role with the Honors College and psychology department.
Handling conflict
Beginning his career in the Counseling Center, June was appointed as director in 1981. Eight years later, there was a protest at the university, a sit-in by black students who felt the university wasn’t listening to their concerns. June was appointed as a senior adviser to the provost for racial, ethnic and multicultural issues to make sure the students’ demands were being heard and addressed.
At that point, June said, he felt the relationship between students and the administration had deteriorated, and he worked to improve it in his new position. He still continues today.
“The relationships that he has created and nurtured among various groups on campus are his greatest legacies,” Provost Kim Wilcox said.
Twenty years later, when the Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, was dealing with a controversial election for their next president in 2009, now-COGS President Stefan Fletcher said June again helped to mediate a difficult situation and focus the student leaders on their mission to serve graduate students.
“Dr. June helped play a key role in bringing the different parties to understand each other’s point of view,” Fletcher said.
Diverse students
In 1994, when June earned his dual appointment, students of diverse backgrounds at MSU weren’t being served at the level they are now. There was no multicultural center, no LBGT resource center and a less-inclusive intercultural aide program in the residence halls.
Through his partnerships with the provost office and Student Affairs and Services, June played a role in establishing those programs, among others.
“After a while, it was not really seen as two hats, but one hat all working together toward a common goal and that was trying to provide quality support services to students,” June said.
Matt Anderson, an associate dean in the Eli Broad College of Business, who has worked with June in the Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association, said June has been a tremendous role model and mentor to students and faculty of color on campus. Students, at times, underestimate the work that goes into being the vice president of Student Affairs and Services, but June has continued to be an advocate to ensure the student perspective is heard by the administration, Anderson said.
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“There’s nobody I know who doesn’t speak of him without mentioning he’s a man of high integrity,” he said.
Leaving a legacy
When Denise Maybank was a doctoral student at MSU, she took a clinical psychology class taught by June. She remembers how he challenged students to think beyond whatever was going on in the classroom.
As she stepped into her position as senior associate vice president for Student Affairs and Services at MSU five years ago, June was dealing with those same sorts of issues, helping students who had been involved in the 2005 Cedar Fest riots to work through their legal issues with the university.
Maybank will serve as the interim vice president for Student Affairs and Services until an external search university officials hope will conclude by July 1, 2011, is completed.
June credits the various colleagues he’s had throughout his career, his family, the students and God for making his time at MSU memorable.
His wife of 41 years, Shirley June, said she is excited for her husband’s new position, reflecting on the friendships and partnerships he’s developed during his 38 years.
“MSU has been like an extended family,” Shirley June said.
And although Lee June might be shedding his two current titles, he said he won’t forget the most important word in each of them — students.
“I’ll always be involved with students as long as I’m at Michigan State,” Lee June said.
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