Office of the Vice President
Health, Wellness and Student Services
Support student success and the well-being of students by empowering them to attain personal, physical, and emotional health and well-being, supporting and improving accessibility through accommodations and inclusive practices, promoting community health and illness prevention, financial education, and access to basic needs. Also provide access to educational opportunities to local students, educate campus community members about community conduct standards and assist in the development of students as good citizen.
Christy Samarkos
Associate Vice President for Health, Wellness and Student Services
Christy Samarkos, whose professional career in Student Affairs spans more than 28
years, has served in a number of progressively responsible roles at SDSU including
being appointed Interim Vice President for Student Affairs twice. She has a broad
range of leadership achievements and expertise in academic preparation; student advising,
counseling, leadership training and development; co-curricular and multicultural programming;
and staff development.
Samarkos, who has invested 25 years of her career at SDSU, is an advocate of student leadership development and success. Driven by collaboration and authentic leadership, Samarkos has devoted her career to advancing and adopting research-driven and data-informed practices that help ensure that programs and initiatives drive each student's propensity for personal, academic and, ultimately, career success.
Samarkos' leadership has assisted the Division to continue to grow and introduce a number of initiatives to build a community of support and leadership participation aimed at improving students' overall persistence and graduation rates. Key strategic priorities have included the expansion of academic and psycho/social support for underrepresented student groups, providing experiences promoting student involvement and efforts to close the achievement gap among student groups.
In her current Associate Vice President for Student Affairs role, Samarkos oversees the strategic planning and operations for various departments within the Division. Her current portfolio includes Student Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Disability Services, Well Being and Health Promotions, Graduate Student Health Insurance plan, and Testing Services & Test Accommodation Center. She also works closely with several Division of Student Affairs programs and units collectively responsible for developing and providing transformational experiences for students and is the Student Affairs and Campus Diversity liaison with the Associated Students, the independent student-directed corporation affiliated with SDSU.
Samarkos holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work from Concordia College in Minnesota, a Bachelor of Science in special education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a Master of Science in counseling with a specialization in college student personnel from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.
