This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Herman C. Kissiah, dean of students at Lafayette College since 1967, has announced he will retire on October 31, 1999.
Lafayette president Arthur J. Rothkopf informed the Lafayette community at a faculty meeting Tuesday (August 31) and said James F. Krivoski, associate dean of students and director of student life, will step into Kissiah's position on November 1.
“Herm Kissiah's deep and abiding concern for young people has touched the lives and enriched the experience of many generations of Lafayette students, and his dedicated, effective leadership has helped define the College and make it a better place,” Rothkopf said. “His far-reaching, positive legacy at Lafayette is one that few administrators at any institution can match. All members of the College community are very grateful to him for his excellent service.”
Kissiah has overseen significant changes and implemented numerous innovations to improve the Lafayette experience in every sector of student life outside the classroom. He says all initiatives have been based on an understanding shared by Lafayette administrators, faculty, and students that “education takes place not only in the classroom, but in the library, in meeting rooms, on the playing fields, and in residence halls.” That guiding principle is stated in the College's Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, which Kissiah helped draft in his very first year at Lafayette. Subsequently adopted by the Board of Trustees, the faculty and the Student Government, the statement remains in force today, and is among the accomplishments of which Kissiah is most proud.
“Lafayette's student-life program has always enjoyed the support of trustees, administrators, alumni, and, particularly, faculty,” Kissiah said.
Kissiah helped implement Lafayette's transition to coeducation in 1970 and played key roles in the planning and construction of buildings that have transformed the campus, including the Farinon College Center, Williams Center for the Arts, Bailey Health Center, Kirby Field House and Kirby Sports Center, McCracken Varsity House, and six residence halls.
Under Kissiah residential life at Lafayette has gone from purely social to more academically-oriented, with a wealth of opportunities for students with common intellectual interests to reside together and share activities. Participation in campus organizations has grown dramatically. There are now more than 200 student clubs and groups, including community outreach programs in which nearly half the students take part each year.
Lafayette has developed a high-quality cultural program featuring appearances by nationally and internationally known artists and expanded its NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics program to include 23 sports for men and women. Kissiah is the school's faculty representative to the NCAA and a two-time chair of the Patriot League Policy Committee.
Lafayette students honored Kissiah as Administrator of the Year for 1998-99. Also a lecturer in education, he developed and taught a Lafayette course called Higher Education in America.
Kissiah received a Scott Goodyear Award for outstanding performance as a dean in 1996 from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. He has served 15 times on teams evaluating institutions in the United States, France, and Egypt for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which awards accreditation to colleges and universities. Five times he has served on teams evaluating the integrity of athletics programs at NCAA Division I institutions.
An elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Kissiah has been a trustee and chair of Easton Area Public Library and an officer of the Northampton County Higher Education Authority, of which he is a founding member.
A native of Charlotte, N.C., he holds master's and doctoral degrees from Michigan State University and a bachelor's degree from Wheaton College in Illinois. Kissiah resides in Easton with his wife, Kelley, of Lexington, Mass., who is an associate professor of education at Northampton Community College. Their daughter, Karin, is in her third year at Brooklyn School of Law.
James F. Krivoski has been associate dean of students and director of student life since 1989. He came to Lafayette in 1985 as assistant dean of students and director of student residence and was promoted to associate dean of students and director of student residence in 1987.
Krivoski currently oversees housing and residence life, student activities and the Farinon College Center, the Counseling Center and health education programs, the Chaplain's Office and community outreach programs, judicial affairs, fraternity and sorority life, intramural and recreational sports programs, international student programs, and leadership development.
He also teaches two courses, The American College Student, a seminar for first-year students, and Higher Education in America. Lafayette students named Krivoski Administrator of the Year for 1992-93 and Advisor of the Year for 1997-98.
In 1988-89 Krivoski completed a one-year doctoral internship with Lafayette's president, David W. Ellis. He managed a two-year research study that resulted in a major acquisition of computer technology by Lafayette and, subsequently, in the installation of a campus-wide computer network.
A native of Bedford, Pa., he holds a doctor of education degree in higher and adult education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an educational specialist degree in counseling and student personnel administration from James Madison University. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Shippensburg University.
Before coming to Lafayette he was director of housing and residence life at James Madison and served in various capacities at James Madison and the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point.
Krivoski resides in Easton with his wife, Donna Oswald Krivoski, an Easton native who is assistant director of development services and coordinator of parents programs at Lafayette. They are the parents of two daughters, Jamie, a sophomore at the College of William and Mary, and Jill, a 10th-grader at Easton Area High School.