James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico has appointed Stephanie McIver as interim executive director of Student Health and Counseling (SHAC), effective April 1, 2022. 

“I’m pleased to welcome Stephanie into her new role ­– she brings experience, vision and strategy that will be crucial in ensuring SHAC continues to provide high quality, relevant services to our students and campus community,” Holloway said. “Stephanie’s commitment to equity, inclusion and affordability mirror the culture we’re promoting at UNM, and I look forward to collaborating with her to advance the health and wellbeing of the Lobo community.”

Stephanie McIver
Dr. Stephanie McIver

McIver has been the director of SHAC Counseling Services since 2012. Though she grew up in Albuquerque, her education and experience as a clinical psychologist began elsewhere. She is a graduate of Spelman College and The Ohio State University where she began her pre-doctoral training at the college counseling services. She held previous collegiate health positions at Santa Clara University and University of California at Santa Cruz and worked in Acute Psychiatry at Stanford Medical Center.

McIver will replace Dr. James Wilterding, who has also been at SHAC since 2012 and most recently has served in the role of executive director since 2019. Wilterding will continue to be on the SHAC leadership team in the role of co-medical director, along with Dr. Ronica Martinez.  “I thank Dr. James Wilterding for his commitment to student wellness, and to his critical work in leading SHAC through the global pandemic,” Holloway added.

In her previous role as director of Counseling Services, Dr. McIver was a member of the SHAC leadership team and supervised a staff of counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers in their provision of mental health care to students. She was instrumental in making UNM a JedCampus, addressing criteria for making it a mentally healthy one. One initiative was to embed counselors in participating departments across campus to make it easier for underserved students to access care. She helped bring the online mental health platform, Therapy Assistance Online (TAO) to all UNM campuses so that students, staff, and faculty have access to self-help when needed. The Campus Mental Health Team and the website mentalhealth.unm.edu were launched under her leadership. She has also served on multiple committees across campus including the CARE Team and Threat Assessment Team.

Contributing to the accreditation process for the SHAC facility over the past 7 years provides her a perspective on the personnel, processes, and procedures necessary for the effective functioning of student health. Also, her outreach to the UNM campus community through mental health efforts, committees, and leadership engagement will also benefit her as she transitions into this role.

“I’m am honored to have the confidence of my leadership and colleagues in taking on this role. This is a meaningful time to be in this position, post-pandemic, with the reopening of the campus and community, and with a new Vice Provost coming on board soon. I’m excited about engaging with this new leader and my colleagues across the division, and about the increasing support for collaboration with our colleagues across the street at HSC. The potential for optimizing our services across campus for all students is clear. This is a great time to be in this role.  This school and the Albuquerque community mean a lot to me, and I love SHAC – for its contributions, its passion for service, its fantastic facility, and its staff. I commit to serving well.” McIver said.