Creating Spaces for Students to Connect and Belong

As vice president for student life, Stu Cleek attends chapel as often as he can. He sits among the students to connect, be available and pray with them. When a grandparent introduces a prospective student after the service, he shakes her hand and asks her about her college plans, listening intently and engaging her in conversation. “Part of this work is putting yourself in student spaces,” he says. “I like to go to the dining commons at lunchtime even if I’m not eating there just to check in with people.”

Stu found his calling as a college student leading a small group of new students during an eight-week orientation class at Azusa Pacific University. With his roommate, he developed Dinner with Someone New at the Home of Eric and Stu. Every Monday night they invited first-year students in the same major — and a professor from that discipline — to join them for dinner. They took the students to a grocery store to choose what they wanted to eat, and the guests cooked the meal. Stu and Eric cleaned up and washed the dishes.

“The conversations were mostly warm and fun,” Stu says. “I loved getting to know students and professors. But I’ll never forget the evening a beloved music professor leaned across the table to ask a young woman how she was really doing. She started crying because she missed home and didn’t think she belonged at APU. That opened my eyes, and I realized I wanted to do this sort of thing for the rest of my life: helping people connect, learn and grow to become what God created them to be.”

Stu and Eric paid for the first dinner but realized they couldn’t afford any more. So they secured funding from the director of campus life, who also helped them invite professors to the meals. That year, they held nearly 30 gatherings.

Jon Wallace, APU’s dean of students, became Stu’s mentor. “He helped give me a vision for my life,” Stu says. “I switched my major from religious studies to recreation, which seemed a better fit, to develop skills in planning programs with an emphasis in human development and counseling. A minor in business taught me administrative skills.”

After graduating, Stu sold insurance and memberships for the American Automobile Association for a year before returning to APU. He earned a Master of Education in college student affairs while working full time at the university as an admissions counselor.

Stu and his wife, Cathy, then left California to serve as resident directors at Calvin College in Michigan for four years. “It was a great place to work, especially as we never had to shovel snow or pay for heat,” he says. “We still maintain relationships with people we met there. I loved the job and expected to stick around — I even started a doctoral program at Michigan State. But after the birth of our first two children, we decided not to raise our family in a residence hall.”

In 1999, Stu became associate dean for residence life at Westmont. With the job and a family that now included three children, he put off starting over with his doctoral studies. “I thought it might be too late — but it wasn’t,” he says. In 2014, he enrolled at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and completed a doctorate in higher education leadership in 2017, focusing his research on the campus racial climate and student belonging at faith-based institutions. He won a Dissertation Award of Merit from the university. That year he also became dean of students at Westmont.

Stu has spent much of his work supporting students in crisis or going through the student conduct process. “No matter how hard the conversation, I want students to know I care for them,” he says. “Everyone bears the image of God, and I see each as a creation of infinite worth. I care about them and who they’re becoming.”

“No matter how hard the conversation, I want students to know I care for them,” he says. “Everyone bears the image of God, and I see each as a creation of infinite worth. I care about them and who they’re becoming.”

While he enjoys thinking organizationally and strategically, Stu focuses on how systems and activities affect students’ development and growth — and how they support the 25 members of the student life staff. His division includes the Center for Student Success, Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Health Services, Campus Life, Intercultural Programs, Campus Pastor’s Office and Residence Life.

With Patti Hunter and Eileen McQuade in the provost’s office, Stu helped establish the Center for Student Success (CSS). “Great things can happen when professors and student life staff get together,” he says. The center seeks to intervene early when students struggle in some area of their college experience, helping them feel like they belong at Westmont and see themselves succeeding. He also supports and encourages first-generation students and has been excited to see this group continue to grow.

Looking ahead, Stu has embraced a number of challenges. “How will AI shape our work with students?” he asks. “How do we educate them about responsible, ethical use of technology? Can we use AI-based applications to support students? We know smart phones and social media have shaped them in unintended ways. Can we anticipate and address some of the unknown impacts of AI? It’s the new frontier, the wild, wild west.”

He seeks ways to make the student experience even better, and he started by becoming the liaison with Bon Appétit food service. He also hopes to improve school spirit and the experience for both athletes and fans. “We just need to tweak and refine our student life programs,” he says. “I believe in having the right people in the right place, and I think we have outstanding student life staff committed to the best possible outcomes for students.”

Stu appreciates the college’s emphasis on human flourishing and wellbeing and will seek to encourage student growth in six key areas: physical, emotional, social, mental, spiritual and financial. “Students will get messages about developing good habits, such as sleeping, eating and exercising well,” he says. “They can learn what they need to do to flourish.”

Last June, Stu began his two-year service as president of the Association of Christians in Student Development. He has long been involved in this national organization.

His family continues to grow with the addition of three grandchildren. Their mother, Madison Bennett ’20, lives in Oceanside with her husband, Jake. Jonathan ’19 also graduated from Westmont and earned his medical degree at Loma Linda University. He works as a surgical resident at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver. Stu’s daughter Katie teaches as adjunct faculty in dance at Vanguard University and works for Stretch Lab.

In 2025, after 26 years at Westmont, Stu became vice president for student life. “I feel genuinely called to this work, and it’s a privilege to help shape the student experience as we pursue our shared mission,” he says. “Doing so alongside trusted colleagues and friends, in a place that feels so much like home, is a true blessing.”