Rochelle T. Dickey ’83, P’19 has been promoted to the permanent role of dean of students/vice president for Student Life at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø, effective July 1. Dickey has been serving in the acting capacity in this role for the past year, leading her team and guiding students through a highly challenging time of pandemic, protocols, quarantines, and disruption to students’ lives. Throughout that time, she stayed centered on students’ safety, connectedness, and well-being.
Dickey, who grew up in Colorado Springs, was a first-generation student, earning a bachelor’s degree in drama from ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø and a master's in educational counseling and human services from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She joined ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø in 1990 and has served as senior associate dean of students, associate dean and director of minority student life, and director of minority and international students.
Her commitment to antiracism, diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging have been steadfast through the decades. Dickey received the Victor Nelson-Cisneros Award for her commitment to diversity and inclusion for all members of the ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø community, and an Urban League Service Award for commitment to the welfare of minority students. She was honored with three awards from the NAACP: the Community Education Award, Freedom Fund Award, and an award for enduring support of civil rights and social justice.
At ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø, Dickey also received the ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Student Mentor Award for five years, as well as advising awards from ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍøSGA Student Government, Blue Key, and Mortar Board National Honor Societies. She received the Gresham Riley Award for making a difference in the ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø community through outstanding service, commitment, and accomplishment.
Dickey is deeply involved in outreach and partnership efforts that meaningfully connect ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø to the greater Colorado Springs community, such as the community-wide Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, and served on the African-American Youth Leadership Conference Board of Directors for several years. Additionally, the Rochelle T. Dickey Award for an Outstanding Event Contributing to the Empowerment of Communities of Color is presented by ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø’s Butler Center at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø.
