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Issue date: 1/19/07 Section: Trinity Pulse

Media Credit: Jeanna Goodrich Vice President of Student Affairs Gage Paine will leave memories with students and staff alike.

On Tuesday night, students waited by their computers with bated breath to hear news from Gage Paine, vice president for Student Affairs at Trinity. There was much rejoicing when her Jan. 16 e-mail read, "Classes are suspended and University offices are closed."

Though Paine won instant celebrity status this week as the bearer of the student body's gospel message - cancelled class! - her presence on campus runs far deeper than that of an occasional messenger.

First of all, she would be quick to clarify: "The president makes the final decision [about bad weather days]. That gets communicated to his executive assistant and lots of other people. I'm the messenger, not the decider!" Paine said.

Paine will be leaving Trinity next week to serve in that same capacity at the University of Texas in San Antonio (UTSA).

"We'll miss her," said Becky Spurlock, director of Campus and Community Involvement (CCI). "I feel confident we'll hire someone else good, but a lot of us will mourn her leaving. It's been a very special time."

Paine arrived at Trinity's campus in 2000. She was previously employed at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, where she was the associate vice president of Student Affairs and the dean of student life, and, before that, had worked as the assistant dean of students at the University of Texas at Austin.

Paine has been involved with Residential Life, the Student Conduct Board, Dining Services and the Honor Council - these only representing a handful of her dealings on campus. Most of her projects stemmed from a mission that John Brazil, University president, assigned to her the first day Paine walked into her office.

"The first year I was here, President Brazil charged me with looking at really changing campus life," Paine said.

Specifically, that charge became known as the "Quality of Student Life Taskforce."

According to Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life David Tuttle, "When you talk about Dr. Paine, you want to talk about the Quality of Student Life Taskforce. She chaired a taskforce that analyzed the quality of student life outside the classroom, and they came up with something like 14 different recommendations that included the Tigers' Den, as well as lots of renovations to the Residential Life program. It set a kind of a blueprint for the next five years or so."

Continued...

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