Student government gave Sean Dever '25 a steppingstone into higher education administration

By Leah Spengler ’26

If you see former Salve Regina University Student Government Association (SGA) president Sean Dever ’25 on campus, it’s not because he is missing the credit requirement needed to graduate. Dever has begun working in the Office of University Advancement as an annual giving and alumni engagement associate. 

As a political science and religious and theological studies graduate, Dever filled his four years at Salve with a dedication to the mercy mission and student service. Now, he has turned this experience as a student leader into a career in higher education where he hopes to make the power of a college experience more accessible and universal for other students. 

In the conversation below, Dever talks about the adjustment from undergrad to a full-time career, and how his prior experience as a student leader is informing his work with new demographics in the University community.

Q: How did you find yourself at Salve in the first place? What drew you to this campus?

A: I always say, I may have come because of the financial aid, but I stayed because of the mission. I was applying to college during COVID-19, and one of my good friends got recruited here for lacrosse. When I saw the pictures, I applied, but I didn’t even really think about Salve. I actually committed to Northeastern University before I came here, and then Salve gave me a very generous financial aid offer, and I thought, “You know what? We’re going to Newport.” I ended up staying because of what I found here.

Q: When you came to Salve, did you have a plan for what you thought your future career would be and what you wanted those four years to look like?

A: I knew I wanted to be involved, so I joined SGA. My whole life I planned on being a lawyer. Actually, when I was a 7-year-old, I wanted to be a baker, and then I changed that to a lawyer. But up until my senior year, I was fully set on law school. I did my applications and was trying to decide which one to go to, but it just didn’t feel right. So, I started thinking about higher ed.

Q: What were some of the factors that made you decide to go toward the path of working in higher education?

A: I think for me, because I grew up with my mom and she didn’t go to college, I didn’t really know what the college experience would look like, or what it could do for you. I think once it got to my senior year, and I looked back on my four years and some of the alumni I met, I was seeing how big of an impact a college education can have on a student and how it can redirect your life. I thought about the law as a way to correct the wrongs in society, but higher ed comes in before that. It’s like preemptive care by building and helping students develop into people and avoid those wrongs.

Q: Once you realized you had this interest in higher education, how did you find yourself in Salve’s Office of University Advancement?

A: It’s kind of funny; the SGA executive board has dinner with President Armstrong once a month, and she knew that I was interested in law school. After one dinner, I told her, “I think I’m going to go into higher ed.” Honestly, it was because of her that I found out about this opportunity. She directed me to MaeLynn Patten, vice president for advancement, and I found out that this position was going to be opening up this past summer. They really helped me think about whether it was the right fit for me. If you’re looking to be an administrator at a university, they really look for a background in fundraising, advancement and development. So I thought it would be really cool to learn that side of administration and also be able to provide my alumni perspective.

Q: When you were president of SGA, you had an active role leading the student body. Now, in your new role, you are leading a new demographic of alumni and donors. Have you seen skills transfer between these two leadership roles?

A: Definitely. It’s a lot more people. We have over 20,000 alums, and just over 2,700 students. I’d kind of learned the current Salve student interest, but now I feel like a big part of my role is just learning the history of Salve – those more personal histories and the things that made the experience of alums unique. There’s something so cool about being able to carry over my work from SGA into alumni work. I met with an alum who was passionate about physical accessibility on campus, which was something I spent a lot of time on as SGA president. I was literally able to pull up my old notes from my meetings about accessibility on campus and recognize that this was something the alum was passionate about, and I had an example of how it was a priority for the University, too.

Q: Do you have goals set for this upcoming year? What are some of the things you hope to accomplish?

A: Right now, I’m in that initial outreach phase and am focused on cultivating relationships with alums. A major goal of mine is to increase engagement from young alumni in the classes of 2018 to 2025. I’m really focusing on starting that alumni relationship earlier and diversifying how we do alumni outreach because something that I could do for the class of 1976 isn’t going to appeal to someone in the class of 2024. Also, I want to focus on re-building the engagement relationship with alumni whose outreach has faded. I want to find out what changed in their lives and meet them where they’re at to build those relationships back up.

Q: Has there been a specific element of your new job that’s made you realize something about Salve that you didn’t realize as a student?

A: As president of SGA, I was the liaison to advancement, so I kind of knew the big picture elements of advancement. But there is so much that goes on behind the scenes, not like a wizard behind the curtain, but just work that they’re doing that you wouldn’t think about. There’s just so much that our staff and faculty do that they never ask credit for. It now makes me even more appreciative of my experience.

Q: Is there an element of your work that you think is important for people to know to better understand you?  

A: The part of my work I really enjoy the most is getting alums re-engaged with Salve. It’s such a unique school and the more I learned, I always wondered if it was just the happenstance of our situation, with how powerful the faculty members and individual relationships we have can be. But really, this is going back to the 1950s. They had that same experience. So much has changed, but at the same time, it’s still that core Salve that I love.