Student Affairs

Sandra Olson-Loy is vice chancellor for student affairs. Senior student affairs officer since 1999, she is responsible for a comprehensive program that develops student potential; fosters student learning, persistence and success; builds a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive community; and extends the UMN Morris liberal arts mission beyond the classroom. Olson-Loy has worked to build a highly effective, student-centered student life program rooted in Morris’s mission as a selective, rural, residential public liberal arts and sciences university serving one of Minnesota’s most diverse, talented and engaged student bodies. She is the third vice chancellor for student affairs at Morris and had the pleasure of working closely with her predecessors while she led Student Activities on campus.

Sandra Olson-Loy is vice chancellor for student affairs. Senior student affairs officer since 1999, she is responsible for a comprehensive program that develops student potential; fosters student learning, persistence and success; builds a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive community; and extends the UMN Morris liberal arts mission beyond the classroom. Olson-Loy has worked to build a highly effective, student-centered student life program rooted in Morris’s mission as a selective, rural, residential public liberal arts and sciences university serving one of Minnesota’s most diverse, talented and engaged student bodies. She is the third vice chancellor for student affairs at Morris and had the pleasure of working closely with her predecessors while she led Student Activities on campus.

Olson-Loy has been involved in NASPA—the leading student affairs professional association, served NASPA’s Board of Directors as small colleges and universities division chair, and co-chaired the Small College and University Institute for Senior Student Affairs Officers. She was named a NASPA Pillar of the Profession in 2020. Olson-Loy co-authored “Building Innovative Programs for the Small College” in Small and Mighty: Student Affairs at Small Colleges and Universities (NASPA, 2023) and highlighted the role of civic engagement and place-based learning in “Student Localism,” a chapter in Leading America’s Branch Campuses (American Council on Education, 2009). 

Olson-Loy holds an MA in public policy and administration from the University of Wisconsin Madison. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead with an individualized major in Student Personnel Services. Her public service includes serving two terms as a Minnesota Supreme Court appointee to the Minnesota Judicial Selection Commission. 

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