Vitangeli got her B.A. in business management from Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio, and went on to acquire her M.S. in college student personnel from Western Illinois University. Prior to her time at the University of Indianapolis, she served in student affairs roles at DePauw University from 1995-1998 and at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas from 1998-2003.
Vitangeli’s roles at the University of Indianapolis have a great deal of overlap with her new assignment at IU South Bend. The two schools have similar enrollment numbers, although the University of Indianapolis has a much larger residential population. In South Bend, a higher percentage of students live off-campus.
“I will be overseeing a lot of areas related to students, outside of the academic arena,” Vitangeli says. “At the University of Indianapolis, I even had some responsibilities beyond that – overseeing the university police and also religious life on campus – but everything I’ll be overseeing in South Bend is something I also did in Indianapolis.”
Her job description includes an extensive list of responsibilities – oversight of everything from campus housing and career services to the Titans Feeding Titans food pantry and veteran’s services – but Vitangeli sees it all as part of a bigger picture.
“I’m most focused on using my role to increase and expand student engagement across campus,” she says. “Coordinating student engagement across all the IU campuses is one of President Whitten’s priorities, so a vital part of this position is the idea of looking at student engagement and a sense of belonging. We want to find the best ways for the student engagement staff to partner with other areas across campus to make sure that students are being recruited and retained. At IU South Bend, Chancellor Elrod is looking at the services we can provide and how we can partner student affairs with the office of the provost and academic affairs, in order to make sure we’re all working together towards the same student success goals. I am very much looking forward to serving the student-focused and caring community that exists at IU South Bend. It was clear from the moment that I stepped on campus that the entire community cares deeply about the success of students, and I look forward to working with the individuals in the Student Affairs division as well as others across campus.”
