When John Blackshear was still in high school, he had the opportunity to perform with a theatre group at Duke University. He was awed by his surroundings, which he expressed to the chaperone supervising him, saying, “I think I’d like to go to college here.” His chaperone, who knew nothing about him other than he was a young Black man from Savannah, Georgia, was quick to say it wasn’t a place for him. Fifteen years later, John was working there.

“I wasn’t sure I belonged,” says John, reflecting on the memory and his time as a Duke employee. “I began to think about how if I was feeling that, as someone paid to be there, what must the students be feeling?”

John’s experience helped him understand the value of creating an environment where students feel like the institution is invested in their future and well-being. And that perspective is undoubtedly what made his 22 years at Duke so successful. (It didn’t hurt that he was also a favorite among the students.) Cultivating that sense of belonging is now the foundation of Blackshear’s work at Rochester as the vice president for student life.

Early last month, John joined Joe Testani, the deputy to the president, in the first of a new series of “strat chats,” where University leaders provide insight and updates on critical pieces of the strategic plan. This chat focused on where John is putting his attention as he and his team work to meet the objectives within the exceptional education goal of Boundless Possibility.

We’ve put together some of the biggest takeaways for a handful of these areas.

Health and well-being

“Stellar.” That was John’s word for the University Health Service (UHS). Building on the work already being done by the University Counseling Center and Health Promotion Office, he aims to make UHS the country’s gold standard for university health care. His first step in that direction was hiring the new UHS director, Cheryl Kodjo ’01M (MPH).

John emphasized the importance of strong partnerships across all of Rochester’s schools—highlighting the work of Alex Samors, the director of the CARE Network—to create interconnected care that functions in conjunction with the center care team.

John sees this work as critical because students are at an age when the brain is still developing, identities are taking a more concrete shape, and mental, emotional, and behavioral conditions might present for the first time. With all this—and more—happening, students must have access to the care and support they need to make and understand these transitions.

Quote: “For me, college was a period of healing my racial trauma, understanding that my Blackness wasn’t born out of enslavement, but intended by something divine. And it allowed me to move into the world a much more healthy, well human being. It’s my goal to help ensure Rochester graduates healthy, well human beings.”

Student success

In October, Anne-Marie Algier ’16W (EdD) was named dean of students, a role she has served on an interim basis since 2023. John says, “You’re welcome, Rochester.” That’s because he believes Anne-Marie has the passion a dean of students needs to be successful—and that translates to student success.

Anne-Marie’s work includes maintaining an environment focused on student wellness and their experience. That includes the CARE network and programs like Rochester Traditions and the Medallion Leadership Program.

John—with Anne-Marie and the rest of his team—is constantly thinking about how all this fits together, asking questions such as:

• What does this mean for our graduate and professional students?
• What’s our approach to international student orientation?
• What do we need to learn about first-year and second-year programming?
• How do we ensure we provide students with the best academic advisement possible?

Quote: “Anne-Marie cares about this place incredibly deeply, and that’s what you need in a dean of students. You need someone who wears the pride as well as the scars. I’m so excited about everything she has already done as interim dean. Hats off to her.”

Dining services

Are you enjoying the new Grab & Go option: Wegmans On-Demand? You have John to thank for that. It started with John walking into a Wegmans and having a conversation about a potential partnership. He sees it as a case study for what’s possible.

John is really big on dining services. He’s seen it affect students’ physical health and energy levels. And because of that, he feels strongly about food being more than a life-sustaining resource or study fuel; it should be life-enhancing.

Working closely with dining services, John expects more ideas and strategies for the Eastman School and River campuses to be developed as their relationship matures. As of this “strat chat,” the University is working to hire an executive director and executive chef for dining services.

Quote: “Our students come from all over the world. We should have a rich diversity of food, and we should have fresh food. We should have food that students are proud of when they have people visit the campus.”

Question & Answer

At the end of these strat chats, attendees are given the opportunity to submit questions. John received a lot of questions—and not enough time to address them all. So, there will be a Part II, where we share some of those questions and John’s answers. Here’s a preview.

What are two or three things you’re doing right now that students will feel the effects of before they graduate?

One quick thing I did was give out a gift. There was a thing called the “first-year gift from the VP.” It was these jerseys with everyone’s name on the back. That might seem like a one-hit kind of thing. But the reason I did it was because I had seen evidence that first-year students didn’t feel like they joined something when they arrived on campus.

So, I wanted to draw out that sense of being part of a team, part of a community that is committed to their development.

We’ve had alumni call and ask if they could get some of those, and I’ve said, “No—but you can come talk to our students.” We’ve also been working with folks in alumni relations who have been asking about how we can make sure our students have opportunities to intern, research, and explore careers with our alumni.

I don’t want things to be superficial—Let me be clear about that. There is often a desire to “see somebody do a flip.” What I’m aiming for is deep-rooted, and that takes time. This university has some incredible things going for itself, and I want to find ways to accentuate and amplify them.