About
Marcus Greene has served as Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Alderson Broaddus since 2019. Before AB he spent twelve years at Roanoke College — his undergraduate alma mater — in roles that progressed from Resident Director to Assistant Dean of Students to Associate Dean. He came to AB from Bluefield College, where he was Dean of Students for four years and helped lead an institutional accreditation review.
Greene holds an Ed.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Virginia Tech, where his doctoral research focused on the persistence and graduation patterns of first-generation rural students at small private colleges in central and southern Appalachia. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor in West Virginia and Virginia, and maintains a small (six-client) private supervision practice with early-career counselors at the Davis Health System.
A first-generation college graduate raised in southwest Roanoke, Virginia, Greene describes his vocation in simple terms: "Be present. Know names. Open doors. Stay long enough to be missed." He is on a first-name basis with every AB Resident Assistant, every team captain, and an alarming proportion of the student body.
Education
- 2014Ed.D., Counselor Education & Supervision — Virginia Tech. Dissertation: Holding On: First-Generation Rural Student Persistence at Small Appalachian Colleges.
- 2007M.Ed., College Student Affairs — University of South Carolina.
- 2003B.A., Psychology (cum laude) — Roanoke College. Minor in Religious Studies.
Teaching
Dean Greene teaches one section of the AB first-year experience seminar each fall, and one upper-level elective each spring. He is one of the few VPs in the country who has not missed a teaching semester since assuming his current role.
- AB 110First-Year Seminar: Becoming a BattlerThe AB first-semester experience. A small-group introduction to college-level learning, vocational discernment, the AB Hilltop tradition, and the practical life skills required to thrive on campus.
- PSY 308Counseling Theories & SkillsA practical upper-division course for psychology, social-work, pre-nursing, and pre-PA students. Includes a 30-hour supervised practicum.
Research, Practice & National Voice
Dean Greene's scholarship sits at the intersection of student-affairs practice and Appalachian higher-education research. His work has been published in NASPA Journal, the Journal of College Counseling, and the Appalachian Journal. He is a sought-after speaker on first-generation student success, rural mental-health outreach, and the practice of "dean-ing" at small institutions where everyone knows everyone.
He chairs the NASPA Region III First-Generation Student Success Knowledge Community, sits on the advisory board of the Center for First-generation Student Success at NASPA, and is the AB representative to the Higher Learning Commission's Persistence and Completion Academy. In 2024 he was named a Mary Christie Foundation Fellow for his work on rural-college mental health.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- 2024"The Dean as Witness: Naming, Knowing, Being Present." NASPA Journal of Student Affairs.
- 2022"What Rural Colleges Know About Belonging That Selective Colleges Don't." The Chronicle of Higher Education, October.
- 2020"Holding On: First-Generation Rural Student Persistence." Appalachian Journal.
- 2024Plenary, NASPA Annual Conference, "The Practice of Dean-ing at a College of 1,100."
- 2023Co-author, The First-Gen College Experience in Rural America. Routledge.
Honors & Service
- 2024Mary Christie Foundation Fellow.
- 2023NASPA Region III Outstanding Senior Student Affairs Officer.
- 2021Promoted to Vice President for Student Affairs.
- 2018Virginia Tech School of Education Distinguished Alumni Award.
- 2014Roanoke College Outstanding Young Alumnus.
The single most important thing I can do in this job is know your name when I see you in the dining hall — and ask the second question that lets you know I remember the first one you answered.— Dr. Marcus T. Greene
Beyond the Classroom
Greene is the volunteer head coach of the AB men's club rugby team, an indifferent but enthusiastic bluegrass mandolin player, and a Sunday-school teacher at First Baptist Church of Philippi (he has taught the same fifth-grade class for five years running and refuses to be promoted). His wife Jamie is a public-defense attorney in Buckhannon; their two children are in middle and high school in Barbour County Schools.
He is a long-distance hiker who completed the entire Appalachian Trail in five summer sections between 2011 and 2019, and is currently working through the southern half of the Long Trail in Vermont, mostly with his teenage daughter as his companion.