Leadership Announcements for Student Affairs, Strategic Excellence

June 16, 2026

Dear Rutgers–New Brunswick Community:

Last spring, I announced an interim change in the leadership structure of the Division of Student Affairs. Today, I am pleased to announce an update.

In July 2025, Dr. Salvador Mena, our Senior Vice Chancellor for the Student Experience and leader of the Division of Student Affairs, temporarily left Rutgers to take on a yearlong fellowship at Kean University through the American Council on Education (ACE). The nationally recognized ACE Fellowship prepares senior higher education leaders for expanded institutional leadership roles through immersive executive-level experience.

In his absence, Dr. Francesca Maresca has served as Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Over the past year, she has served with distinction in leading the Division of Student Affairs’ more than 1,000 professional staff and more than 2,000 student staff in promoting our students’ academic success, personal growth, and professional development across the Division’s four pillars of health and wellness, student life and advocacy, campus engagement and belonging, and administration and student services.

Today, I am proud to announce that Dr. Mena is returning to Rutgers in the new role of Senior Vice Chancellor and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Institutional Acceleration and Integration. He will lead our highest-impact priority initiatives, ensure effective coordination across academic and administrative units, and deliver progress in the next phase of our Academic Master Plan (AMP) strategy.

I also announce with gratitude and pride that Dr. Maresca has agreed to continue serving as Interim Vice Chancellor and leading the Division of Student Affairs through the 2026-27 academic year.

A national search for the Division’s next permanent Vice Chancellor will commence in the Fall.

Dr. Mena led the Division of Student Affairs beginning in 2018, first as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and beginning in August 2023 as Senior Vice Chancellor for the Student Experience. He joined Rutgers in 2014, serving as Associate Vice Chancellor and then Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. He has worked with partners across our institution to advance directives that support student well-being, focusing on issues such as basic needs, sexual and interpersonal violence, mental health, pedestrian safety, faith and spirituality, recreation, and health and wellness. He led the creation of crucial Student Affairs offices, resources, systems, and capital projects, and co-created our annual Student Success Conference.

Please join me in thanking Senior Vice Chancellor Mena and Interim Vice Chancellor Maresca for their continued excellence in dedication to Rutgers and our students.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor and Distinguished Professor
Rutgers University–New Brunswick