Josh McKenzie will march through The Arch one last time as assistant dean of students later this month, he announced in an Instagram post Thursday.

“I have a never-ending list of memories I won’t forget & people who have impacted my core,” McKenzie wrote in the post. “I will miss the students most of all, students who had me laughing, crying, grieving, celebrating, & everything across the spectrum.”

As director for student transition experiences, McKenzie is best-known on campus for organizing and planning Wildcat Welcome, Northwestern’s new student orientation. He has welcomed more than 30,000 students to NU in the role, he said. 

Medill sophomore Elizabeth Casolo said McKenzie was a “cultural icon” for the peer advisor and first-year student community. Casolo was a peer advisor, or mentor for incoming students, in 2022, and said McKenzie helped make the training process less stressful.

“He was just really good at making everyone feel warm and accepted through the process,” Casolo said.

McKenzie also organized a virtual Wildcat Welcome experience in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fourth-year McCormick master’s student Jay Zou was a peer advisor in 2020 and 2022.

“The first year I was a (peer advisor) it was over COVID, and particularly my freshman year it was really tough,” Zou said. “(McKenzie’s) positivity even transcended through the Zoom screen.”

McKenzie has worked for NU since 2010, and has also acted as director of first-year experience. He became assistant dean of students in 2020.

McKenzie did not detail in the Instagram post his next move.

“Thank you for the opportunity to learn and grow here,” McKenzie wrote of the University. “Thank you for letting me be able to leave a small mark on this place.”

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Twitter: @PavanAcharya02

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