Assistant Dean for Campus Life and Director of the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life Victor Felts will be leaving his position at Emory at the end of this semester.

Beginning in early January, Felts will be serving as the director of student life at his alma mater, Austin Peay State University, in Clarksville, Tenn.

Felts, who has been at Emory since June 2005, was recruited by Austin Peay last October. He said that he accepted the position not only because it was a new career opportunity, but also because it was a chance to go back to his hometown.

“It was an opportunity to move back home and to be with family and friends,” Felts explained.

The administration has been helpful during the past few years, Felts said.

“I think one of the great things about working at the University, especially in my capacity, has been the support of the administration,” Felts said. “They’ve been really supportive of a lot of the things we’ve tried to implement in the last five years.”

Working at a smaller school has been beneficial to his career, Felts said. He said that the experience he had at Emory will be something to take away to his new position at a school of nearly 10,000 students. Emory has about 5,500 students.

“It’s been good for me to work with the Emory community,” he said. “Most of my other positions have been working at large state schools.”

Felts has previously held positions at Louisiana State University, Middle Tennessee State University and Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

According to Dean of Students Bridget Guernsey Riordan, Felts contributed greatly to Greek life at Emory and helped to shape the program’s future.

“Victor’s biggest accomplishment was working with the Greek life task force, which developed a set of recommendations that will be a blueprint for Greek life over the next three to five years,” Riordan wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel.

The Greek life task force, which consists of students, administration, staff and alumni, aims to improve the quality of Greek life on campus. The task force outlines recommendations based on a report by a consultant hired by the University to improve Greek life at Emory.

These recommendations include alcohol regulations, specific recruitment rules and fraternity-University housing relationships.

Felts also implemented the Greek Life Advancement (GLA) program in 2006 to evaluate Greek organizations based on academics, education, chapter operations and participation.

Felts said that he hopes to see the work continue.

“We have a three-year plan to implement all the recommendations that the task force made,” Felts said, “and I hope that they continue to implement these recommendations.”

— Contact Alice Chen