Assistant vice president for financial services hired

By Steve Nakata, Student Affairs & Enrollment

Dixon,-Brian-80PULLMAN, Wash. – An executive at Collegiate Consulting, a firm specializing in Oracle and PeopleSoft applications, has been named assistant vice president for the Office of Student Financial Services at Washington State University.  Selected following a national search, he will begin the job on July 1.

Brian Dixon will be responsible for administration, direction and supervision of the office, which oversees awarding of financial aid and scholarships. In collaboration with Sally Texter, assistant vice president for enrollment management IT, he will oversee development of technical aspects and workflow processes.

Dixon is vice president of business development and senior consultant for Collegiate Consulting, an enterprise applications firm that helps universities and colleges across the country re-engineer business processes to better serve their students and comply with government regulations.

In this capacity, he has been consulting with WSU student financial services and is providing leadership in staff reorganization and work flow improvement.

“Those of us who have had the opportunity to work with Brian have been very impressed with his knowledge of IT systems, his creativity and leadership abilities,” said John Fraire, vice president for student affairs and enrollment. “We are very pleased that he will be joining our staff on a full-time basis.”

One of the first things Dixon wants to focus on is listening to students, faculty and staff talk about their experiences working with student financial services. He envisions hosting forums, including at WSU’s regional campuses.

“The forums will give us valuable feedback from which we can create new ideas to continue to improve our services,” he said.

He has consulted on projects with many universities, including City College of Chicago, University of Arkansas-Monticello, George Fox University, Marquette University and University of Missouri-Columbia.

Prior to joining Collegiate Consulting, Dixon worked as a systems manager in financial aid and scholarships at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and a financial aid advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He graduated with a bachelor’s of arts degree in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before earning a master’s in business administration from Cardinal Stritch University.