Kerry Guerard has been appointed as the new director of the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards, according to a Feb. 20 press release from the Office of Communications.

Guerard first came to Brandeis in late September to serve as an interim director for DSRCS after Dean Gendron left the University after ten years for a position at Amherst College.

After working in DSRCS for a couple of months, Guerard applied for the permanent director position and began the interview process.

In an email to the Justice, Guerard wrote that she was “thrilled to [have been] selected as the Director.”

“Kerry is a great fit for Brandeis, and our students will benefit from her experience … and her vision for how to best and fairly respond to student conduct cases,” wrote Dean of Students Jamele Adams in the press release shared with the student body.

In her time as interim director, Guerard did not implement many direct changes in the department.

She did acknowledge that some changes occurred, writing that “everyone has their own style, [and] that has likely changed in the transition” since Gendron departed the University.

Now that she is the permanent director, Guerard wrote that she is looking to gather some feedback from the community before making any major changes to the Student Rights and Community Standards Department.

“It’s important when you start a new school that you spend time reviewing the trends of the conduct office, how the process works, and what people think about them before deciding if there are any changes that need to happen” she wrote.

Before making any changes, she told the Justice that she wanted to take feedback from a variety of sources into consideration, including the Department of Community Living, Brandeis Police and the Student Conduct Board.

Guerard mentioned that the Student Conduct Board—an organization that allows undergraduates to participate in the University’s judicial system—has not changed in her time here. She also wrote that the conduct process has not undergone any changes in the past few months.

Guerard’s main responsibilities on campus will include “adjudicating disciplinary cases as well as managing education and outreach to the community regarding the conduct process,” according to the press release.

She will also join the Title IX Committee and the Care Team, which will “make decisions about a course of action for supporting the students who are brought to the attention of the teams,” according to Guerard.

After serving as a member of the Student Conduct Board at Fitchburg State College while studying there, Guerard began to explore student affairs as a potential career option.

She went on to earn her Master’s of Education degree in Higher Education Leadership and Administration from Jones International University.

Before coming to the University and joining as interim director after Gendron's departure, Guerard served as the interim Assistant Dean of Students at Suffolk University for 10 months.

After working at Suffolk, Guerard then served as the Assistant Director of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at North Carolina Central University for one-and -a-half years and then as the Director of Judicial Affairs and Orientation at Muskingum University for 10 years.