Cameron Cox puts his time and effort into making students more involved with activities and events

Donna Kopmar
Staff Writer

Cameron Cox is the Director of Student Programs. The name of Student Programs is changing to Student Life next year.
He has been here since Fall 2010. Before working at Pierce, he worked at a community college in Houston, Texas.

What did you want to do when you were little?
First I wanted to be a paleontologist because I loved dinosaurs when I was a kid. Then I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I had a range of interests.
What made you want to be the Director of Student Programs?
That goes back to my college experience. I started out at a community college and I got involved with a club on campus and that’s where I started to think, “Maybe I want to be in the higher education environment.”
I loved the wide ranges of things that are happening on college campuses. I think once you get connected on campus it just greatly enriches your college experience.
What do you like most about being the director of Student Programs?
Working with students. I think that’s what drew me to this position. I knew that whatever career I chose I wanted something that gave me high contact with students.
A lot of times when you climb the ladder in higher education you tend to have less contact with students. Seeing the students achieve their potential is what’s really exciting for me.

What are your goals for the future?
I just want to see our program grow. I’d like us to be more visible on campus. I’d love to see a lot more students get involved.
The big thing that I’d love to see is students at Pierce get really excited about being connected, coming to events, supporting athletics, theater, or other programs we have on campus. What do you do during your free time?
I spend time with my kids and my wife. I love to go to baseball games. I like to read, watch movies, listen to music.

What do students do that bugs you the most?
One thing that I hate to hear, and this isn’t necessarily the student’s fault, but I hate hearing a student say, “I never knew about that” when talking about an activity or an event. We want them to know what we’re doing here on campus. Sometimes that can be annoying because we try to advertise it and they don’t read their emails or read the signs around campus. That could also mean we could do more in strategic advertising.

What is the highlight of your year?
I would say there are quite a few. A lot of them would be just seeing some of the successful activities the students have done and the successes the Student Government has achieved. I oversee the MLI program here, which is the Multi-Cultural Leadership Institute. The Students of Color Conference was a lot of fun this year. We went to Yakima and that was a good chance to get to know the students. Seeing students get excited to be apart of Pierce College, that to me is like a home run.

What do you like most about working at Pierce?
I like the possibilities. I feel like with student programs there are always possibilities.