Senior Associate Dean, Student Conduct & Community Standards

We are pleased to announce that Mathew Shepard will be joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Division of Student Life as the new Senior Associate Dean for Student Conduct and Community Standards starting August 1, 2025.

Mathew has over a decade of experience in student conduct, most recently serving as Director of the Office of Student Conduct at New York University (NYU). He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree from the University of Vermont, and received his doctorate from NYU this spring.

While at NYU, Mathew assumed roles of increasing responsibility within the Office of Student Conduct before eventually taking on leadership of the office in October of 2023. Mathew was the responsible officer for the University Student Conduct policy, as well as the Non-Discrimination & Anti-Harassment policy, and the Substance Abuse and Alcoholic Beverages policy. Mathew advised NYU’s University Senate Community Standards Committee. He collaborated with the university’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Equal Opportunity to establish a central process for investigating and managing reports of discrimination and harassment and created training programs for staff.

Before his time at NYU, Mathew served as the Coordinator of Student Conduct at the University of Maryland—College Park (UMD) where he supported various aspects of the conduct process and revised student conduct processes in collaboration with shared governance groups. Throughout his career, Mathew has sought to incorporate restorative practices into the student conduct process by training administrators and educating campus-wide communities on best practices.

Dan Rodas led this search with Liz Braun and Miguel Santiago, supported by Seema Khan.