Prominent Penn State administrator Damon Sims steps down, set to become associate professor
Senior Penn State administrator Damon Sims, the vice president for Student Affairs, has “stepped down” from his position and will become a non-tenure line associate professor after June 30, the university said Tuesday.
From now until June 30, Sims will serve as a special assistant to university President Neeli Bendapudi. In the meantime, the associate vice president for Student Affairs — Andrea Dowhower — has been named the interim vice president until a permanent replacement is named.
A national search is expected in the coming months.
No reason was given for the change and, in a news release issued by the university, Sims was not quoted. The move comes eight months after Bendapudi took office and seven months after another senior administrator, former executive vice president/provost Nick Jones, announced he “stepped down” from his position to serve as a special assistant to Bendapudi through 2022.
Penn State previously said Jones planned to return to the university’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he had an appointment as a professor. But the University of Illinois System announced in October he would become its new executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs.
Sims leaves his position after spending nearly 15 years overseeing 33 administrative units, more than 500 full-time employees and almost 1,000 part-time staff. The university referred to him as “an unwavering advocate for students.”
A university news release highlighted more than two dozen of his accomplishments since arriving in 2008. They ranged from his creation of the Student Leaders Roundtable, where students regularly offered advice on student issues to the administration, to developing Fraternity and Sorority Compliance to monitor social activities among frats in the wake of the hazing death of student Timothy J. Piazza.
Sims also helped establish the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform, created Student Legal Services, instituted the Parents Program, transformed student orientation, significantly expanded and improved recreational buildings like the IM Building, facilitated renovation/expansion of the HUB, etc. He also held a number of leadership positions on different committees and task forces, from helping advise/oversee the activities of Thon to chairing the 2014 University Task Force on Sexual Assault and Harassment, which resulted in the adoption of 18 recommendations.
He was also a presence in the greater community around State College, serving on the board of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (2010-2013) and creating/expanding Living In One Neighborhood (LION) initiatives in partnership with State College Borough.
“Throughout his tenure, Sims has worked with local community officials and residents to sustain a positive town-gown relationship for the University Park campus,” the university wrote.
