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Last November Suffolk lost a beloved member of the University community with the passing of Dean of Students Emerita Nancy Stoll.
Stoll was a driving force behind Suffolk’s transformation from a commuter school into a thriving and supportive residential university.
She began her Suffolk career in 1987 as the University’s second-ever dean of students—before Suffolk even had residence halls—and built Suffolk’s residence-life structure from scratch. She understood that adding residence halls required a culture shift, with the need for round-the-clock services and a 24/7 mindset, along with security, dining, resident assistants, new policies and procedures, and expanded student support services. Initiatives launched under her leadership include the Performing Arts Office, the Journey leadership program, the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion, the Office of Disability Services, and the Center for Community Engagement, among others.
In 2011, Stoll was honored with the Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Service as a Dean by NASPA, the National Association of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, for her innovative approach to meeting students’ needs, her effectiveness in mentoring staff members, and her leadership in community and University affairs.
Stoll considered mentorship a key part of her job, and many of her former staffers have gone on to leadership roles at other institutions.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without Nancy,” said Jacinda Félix Haro, now dean of students at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. (In her current role, she said, she often finds herself asking, “What would Nancy do?”) Stoll hired Félix Haro early in her higher ed career, and gave her opportunities to develop a wide range of student diversity programs. “Nancy trusted us to do the work and let us lead. I feel like I grew up at Suffolk. When I arrived, I wasn’t always sure of what I was doing. When I left, I was.”
When Stoll arrived at Suffolk in 1987, she pledged to stay five years. What kept her here for 29 was her love for Suffolk students. “Some of the greatest joys I had were the direct contacts with students and watching them grow and blossom and really take advantage of what they could get out of Suffolk,” she said in a 2018 recorded oral history. “That kind of an environment really kept me here. It made me feel like I could make a difference.”
“Nancy had very high standards and expectations,” recalled John Silveria, MEd ’97, who served as Suffolk’s assistant dean of students from 2006 to 2017 and who’s now the associate dean of students at Salem State University. “You learned over time what was really important to her—namely making Suffolk a better place for our students. That became the mantra I live by.”
After she retired in 2016, Stoll missed the connection she had with the University and its people. Recognizing that retirees were valuable resources to the University, she created the Suffolk University Retired Friends (SURF) group of former employees. Today SURF’s membership numbers more than 270. A very generous supporter of the University, Stoll was recently honored for her philanthropy with her posthumous induction into the newly established Beacon Society, which recognizes faculty and staff with lifetime giving of $20,000 or more.
“It’s hard to think of a colleague who cared more about this institution than Nancy Stoll, nor one who advocated more strongly on its behalf,” President Marisa Kelly wrote in a message to the Suffolk community at the time of Stoll’s passing. “If Nancy didn’t like the answer she got, she always found a way to come back and ask the question differently—always with the best interests of this institution and our students and alumni at heart. She was a force! And one who simply loved Suffolk.” —Greg Gatlin and Beth Brosnan
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spring 2026
“Stoll originially planned to stay five years at Suffolk. What kept here her for 29 was her love for Suffolk students. Photograph courtesy University Archives”. Photograph from University Archives
