Loyola hired Akilah Jones last November as the new Director of Student Conduct after months without a permanent director or Title IX coordinator. Though the Title IX position remains unfilled, Jones said she’s excited to be a part of the Loyola community.

“We have to be obviously serious in the work that we do, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun or you know have a personality and be able to bring that and exude that with the students,”Jones said.

With Jones just stepping into her new title, she said she is still adjusting to the new environment and atmosphere on campus. Jones said that most of her schedule so far has consisted of meeting with co-workers in order to get a better understanding of what the director of student conduct role entails.

The Director of Student Conduct job description no longer covers both student conduct and Title IX cases. There is now a separate role for Title IX, meaning that Jones will only focus on student conduct in her new role, according to Alicia Bourque, vice president of student affairs. However, Jones said she has plans to facilitate the ways in which processes are handled and make it easier for students to understand what is expected of them.

Jones said she wants to streamline the conduct process to make it easier for students to understand guidelines and connect with staff.

“I want to try to make it as easy as possible but obviously still get them the information that they need,” she said.

The Flint, Michigan native earned her undergraduate degree from Eastern Michigan University and continued on to gain her masters degree from Texas A&M.

Jones has been working in student conduct for over 16 years, which she says has taught her what methods work the best and how to adapt them to fit into her work environment. She said she wants to be seen as more than a disciplinarian, but also as someone who has her students’ best interest at heart.

Jones worked at The University of Illinois, filling the position as the associates director for student conduct and community responsibility 10 years. Before that, she was a resident director at George Mason University and an assistant director at Michigan State University.

Jones said she wants to be able to connect with students and form relationships with them in order to best help them when it comes to student conduct. She said that as long as she is not in a meeting, she likes to have an open door policy for students to come in if they need to talk with her. She said she also plans to attend different events around campus in order to engage with students outside of an office setting.

“I think that trust is earned, not given,” Jones said. “The only thing I can do is continue to be my authentic self and hope that it shines through when working with students and that they will see that I’m here to work with them and I’m here to help them.”