32
COM Outlook . Spring 2014
n the academic universe, students represent the sun. As
the planets, we do our share to work with those in our
orbits, but it is the Office of Student Services that has
the mighty task of addressing the comprehensive needs of all
students and building their successes.
Delfina A. Wilson, Ph.D., director of student services, along
with three dedicated members of her team, is committed to
providing the planning, decision making, time management,
and self-knowledge that supports NSU-COM’s student body.
Dr. Wilson came to NSU-COM in May 2013, after serving
first as workforce specialist and then dean of student services/
district director of recruitment at East Mississippi Community
College. She earned her Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis
in leadership from Mississippi State University and has a Mas-
ter of Art in Teaching (M.A.T.) in Educational Psychology.
Her eight years of experience in Mississippi, which in-
clude working as a training coordinator and a developer of
early child-care curriculum, are only the latest stints in her
career of service to others. In the mid-1990s, she sharpened
her outreach, people skills, and community awareness by
serving in the United States Air Force as a law enforcement
officer—“a teaching cop,” she said. During her tour of duty,
What We’re
D.O.
ing: Dr. Delfina Wilson
Discusses the Office of Student Services
THE STUDENT SERVICES TEAM:
Leslie Jones, Jeffrey Jurkas,
Dr. Delfina Wilson, and
Shelby Clinton.
she was offered a job to teach the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Re-
sistance Education) program at the Department of Defense
schools. “I carried a gun, but got to go into the schools and
talk about drugs, gangs, and peer pressure for four years.
That was when I decided to go into education.”
With her career progressing well in Mississippi—her
husband Robert’s home state—she got a surprise when he
landed a job in Miami-Dade County. With that change, Dr.
Wilson headed back to her home base. Born in Havana,
Cuba, she moved to Miami with her immigrant parents in the
late 1970s when she was three years old.
Within a short time of being back in South Florida, Dr.
Wilson’s energy and skills won her the director position at
NSU-COM, where she is committed to “forming a cohesive
team for student services in which we all are connected and
communicating with all the different departments. Students
are central to all of our jobs. For me, it’s really important to
make sure I know who is attending classes—and who is do-
ing well or not so well,” she said.
She has hit the ground running—working breathlessly at
times—to “learn everybody’s roles and address the needs of
the students, to help guide them. One of the things I have
By Debra R. Gibbs, B.A., Medical Communications Coordinator
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