All about Jessica Boor as she moves into new position

Jessica Boor is a well-known name around the Maryville College campus. Previously Title IX Coordinator and Director of Student Services, Boor is currently in the process of moving into a new position at Maryville, that of Prevention Education Coordinator.

The transition process began as of Nov. 1 and marks approximately two years at Maryville for Boor.

An Ohio native, Boor found her passion for working with students as an RA at Ohio State. Her initial major was in microbiology, and she decided to become an RA for the financial benefits but found herself spending all her free time in the role. 

“You put your passion where you put your time,” Boor said. “It just kind of dawned on me that this may be my passion area.”

With help from her mentor and internships with LGBTQ+ organizations while in her graduate program at the University of Arizona, she ended up in a full time Resident Director position at the University of Vermont. 

While there, she became playfully known as “the Conduct Queen of ResLife”—due to her interest in helping with issues of student conduct.

“I loved being able to support students in the wild and tumultuous time that is the college years. I got to see so many ‘aha!’ moments. Just seeing people have those breakthrough moments was very rewarding,” Boor said. 

After a few detours in other colleges working with residence life and student conduct, she found herself back in Ohio at Columbus State Community College. 

Boor’s position at Maryville came to her at the perfect time, since she was looking to move in with her significant other who lived in Maryville. 

As for her experience finding the job listing for Title IX Coordinator and Director of Student Services on Maryville College’s website, Boor said, “It felt like the perfect combination of what my professional experiences have been … To find a job that melded all three of those big functional areas together was unique to say the least.”

As for the recent changes to Boor’s job status at Maryville College, they came about after the Department of Justice awarded Maryville the PAVE Grant to implement better sex-education, resources for healthy relationships, and further prevention of sexual assault and abuse. Boor personally asked Dr. Melanie Tucker to move into this newfound role of Prevention Education Coordinator after the two had finished securing the grant for the school.

“I felt like this [grant] was something the campus needed and deserved,” Boor said. Her new role comes with a significant change in duties. Boor will no longer be overseeing ResLife or student affairs. Instead, she’ll be focusing on her prevention piece full time.

Included in this newest addition to Maryville College, Boor plans to implement Peer Educators to help run education opportunities such as workshops and events on campus that pertain to sexual education, violence prevention, healthy relationships, boundaries and communication.

“I’ve seen Maryville change for the better,” Boor said about her time at the college. “With Residence Life getting full time staff to more student support … We are changing, adding and improving what is important and how we value the students at the center.”

According to Boor, the transition has been a smooth one so far. With only a week or so under their belts in this new order of affairs, Doniqua Flack has been taking over Boor’s old duties as Director of Student Affairs and Title IX Coordinator. 

Boor said it’s too soon to tell how things will end up, but she has full faith in Flack’s abilities while the two women take on their new challenges.

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