U. of Connecticut's Mona Lucas named CU's dean of financial aid

By Jacquie Powers

Mona Lucas, director of student financial aid services at the University of Connecticut, has been named Cornell's dean of financial aid.

Mona Lucas, Cornell's new dean of financial aid, at the financial aid office in Day Hall, Oct. 26. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

Lucas, who has served as director of student financial aid services at Connecticut for the past seven years, assumed her new position effective Oct. 1, said Doris Davis, Cornell associate provost for admissions and enrollment.

"Mona was selected from a highly qualified group of candidates," Davis said. "She was the clear first choice, and we are delighted that she has chosen to join the Cornell community. In addition to her considerable experience in financial aid, she is an effective leader and a strategic thinker."

As dean of financial aid, Lucas will manage and direct the operations of the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid and Student Employment. She will conduct analyses, evaluate market conditions and recommend strategies for enhancing Cornell's financial aid competitiveness. She will also serve as the chair of the Cornell administration's Financial Aid Strategy Group and will coordinate all presentations on behalf of the group to the University Executive Budget Group.

Lucas said she was interested in moving to Cornell because of the university's outstanding reputation. "In addition," she said, "it would afford me the opportunity to focus primarily on strategic financial aid policy initiatives as well as national financial aid trends. At this point in my career, having served in many professional financial aid roles, I was looking for a leadership position with a focus on the aspects of the profession I enjoy most. Having spent the last seven and a half years as director of financial aid at the University of Connecticut, I was also interested in continuing to work at an institution with a reputation for excellence. The position at Cornell was, therefore, very appealing to me."

Lucas said her top priority is to contribute to the development of additional strategic financial aid policies that support the university's undergraduate recruitment and enrollment goals.

Lucas became director of student financial aid services at Connecticut in 1994. She began her career in financial aid administration as an undergraduate financial aid peer counselor at Kansas State University in 1980. She also has held positions at Kent State University in Ohio and at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.

Currently, she serves on the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators board of directors and the Sallie Mae National Financial Aid Advisory Committee. She also is a training faculty member for the Council for Opportunity in Education.

She received her bachelor's degree in social work from Kansas State University in 1983 and her master of education degree in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 1989.