Annamaria Wenner began her tenure at Wentworth more than 17 years ago as a graduate assistant in the Office of Housing and Residential Life. She was named dean of students in 2006. With a warm, engaging personality—not to mention a fondness for Twitter—Wenner has developed a strong, lasting rapport with her students.
1. What are some of your hopes and goals for the office of Student Affairs?
We are working on diversity and creating a campus that is inclusive and welcoming to every student. We want students who arrive on campus to feel like we’ve been waiting for them. But more simply, what we know from research is what keeps a student at a college is the sense that they belong— the sense of love. I use the word “love,” and I think it freaks people out, like “love—you can’t say love!” But you have to make students feel like they are loved on campus.
2. What’s your favorite part about your job?
The reason I’ve stayed at Wentworth for 17-plus years is the students. I’m here to help students, teach students, and serve as a role model, but the reality is they teach me every day, and I learn from them every day. I’m a better person for working with Wentworth students. That’s the best part of my job—those impromptu conversations in the cafeteria, or when a student pops by to say hello, or someone sends me a Tweet to let me know they picked up a munchkin from the “Munchkin Monday bowl.” Those little things just make my day.
3. You have the most popular Wentworth-related Twitter feed. How do you use Twitter to engage with students?
What’s great about Twitter is that you can be with the students more than you are on campus with them. I share a lot of my personal life because I’m a believer that students want to connect with someone who’s authentic. If I’m doing yard work, or going home to Pennsylvania to visit my parents, or posting about my father, who has Alzheimer’s, I share that. Obviously I don’t share everything personal, but the students are with me for a big portion of their college time, and I want to know about them. For them to want to trust me, I have to share my story.
4. You have such a positive attitude and outlook. Is there any particular inspiration for this?
I had an amazing college experience at the University of Pittsburgh (Go Panthers!). I was involved in everything I could be involved in. I’m the first of my family to go to college, so I had to navigate those waters on my own. It made me a stronger person and a better student. My experience was so fantastic that I wanted to pay that forward. It was my own experience in college that fueled those fires, but it’s Wentworth that continues to fan those flames of excitement. Every time I walk away from a conversation, or get an email from a student letting me know that a problem worked itself out, it confirms that I’m doing the right thing and this is what I’m meant to do.
5. What do you like to do outside of work?
I love fitness. You can see me in the Schumann Fitness Center most mornings at 6 o’clock. I love biking and hiking and being outside. As I mentioned, I love yard work—I’d rather be in the yard than in my house. I love to read, I love music, and I love to travel. My last trip was Iceland—I encourage anyone to go to Iceland!
–Brianna Hollis
