{"id":161379,"date":"2025-09-17T14:28:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=161379"},"modified":"2025-09-17T14:28:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:28:27","slug":"2025-presidents-award-for-excellence-in-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2025\/09\/17\/2025-presidents-award-for-excellence-in-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 President\u2019s Award for Excellence in Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Bethany DeLong is associate director for enrollment and retention in the College of Health, Education and Human Services.<\/p><\/div>\n

For Bethany DeLong, leadership is about more than managing tasks \u2014 it\u2019s about inspiring others to grow.<\/p>\n

As associate director for enrollment and retention in Wright State University’s College of Health, Education and Human Services<\/a>, DeLong has built a reputation for her innovation, mentorship and dedication to making Wright State a welcoming place for students, faculty and staff.<\/p>\n

Those qualities earned her the 2025 President\u2019s Award for Excellence in Leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cBethany is an outstanding example of what leadership should look like,\u201d said Rachel Schwab, the college\u2019s enrollment and retention coordinator. \u201cShe innovates where there is opportunity, supports where there is need and goes above and beyond to support all in her purview.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since joining Wright State nearly seven years ago, DeLong has strengthened the college\u2019s student recruitment and retention efforts. She mentors members of the college\u2019s Dean\u2019s Student Advisory Board, dean\u2019s scholars and graduate assistants \u2014 instilling confidence and leadership skills in the students she works with.<\/p>\n

Her impact extends well beyond mentoring. DeLong has played a key role in planning events like the college\u2019s annual Trivia Night, Future Teachers Day, the Nursing and Health Careers Camp, Explore Wright State Day and the Scholars Event. She also created the popular monthly Nursing Lab Tours, which draw up to 30 participants each session and have yielded an impressive 71% enrollment rate among attendees.<\/p>\n

She has also made lasting improvements to university processes, including digitizing the teacher education program application to make it easier for students and more efficient for staff.<\/p>\n

Schwab, who works closely with DeLong, said her colleague\u2019s leadership is as personal as it is professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cBethany has not simply trained me on tasks; she has consistently gone above and beyond to support my self-efficacy and advocate on my behalf. I feel incredibly lucky to work with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Always seeking to grow, DeLong joined the Wright Leader Academy to strengthen her already strong leadership skills \u2014 a move that reflects her belief that great leaders are always learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cBethany has made a lasting impact on those around her,\u201d Schwab said. \u201cShe is incredibly deserving of recognition for her work at Wright State University.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bethany DeLong, associate director for enrollment and retention in the College of Health, Education and Human Services, is a mentor, innovator and tireless advocate who has shaped the experience of countless Wright State students. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":161492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,724,711,744,725,715,2402,2024],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-awards","category-faculty-staff","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-presidents-awards-for-excellence","category-staff","series-2025-staff-awards-for-excellence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161379"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161604,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161379\/revisions\/161604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}