Jesika Lento

Assistant Director of Student Life Operations and Initiatives
Start Date: April 21, 2024

Jesika Lento is Stony Brook University’s Assistant Director of Student Life Operations and Initiatives. On a daily basis, she is responsible for budget management, student onboarding and implementing the Office of Student Life’s strategic goals. She owes much of her success to her passion for higher education administration, her desire to help students thrive and some key mentors who helped her along the way.

“When I was a grad student here, I knew that I wanted to be in higher education … and so when one of my advisors was like, ‘do you know that I get paid to do this?’ I was like, ‘no, how do I do that?’ So that's kind of what got me into higher ed,” says Jesika. 

Before Jesika worked for Stony Brook, she completed her master’s degree in higher education administration right here, making her a Seawolf through and through. She completed her degree in 2020.

Since joining Stony Brook as professional staff, Jesika has had the opportunity to make an impression on students in their daily lives. “In my current role working with students and onboarding our Student Life staff,” she says, “I noticed they were not receiving the same training across the board. And so when I joined the team, it was something that I started as a project almost immediately – creating universal Student Life staff training so that all students were getting the same information and same experience. And then if they needed to, their departments would go into more detail about department-specific needs, so to speak, and training. They're able to then meet students that are employed by other departments that maybe they might not be working with all the time, or we're also across three different buildings, if not more.” This training program has been going strong for three semesters.

From her personal experience, Jesika says she might have appreciated a program like the one she has created. “Having the opportunity to be able to meet other students who are in a similar field or have similar experiences or a similar job on campus, even if it's something like Starbucks or the school store, just being able to have time to connect, I think is important.”

When it comes to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, Jesika has it down to a science. She works hard and plays harder. At the time of her interview, she was preparing for an ultra marathon and also teaching nine pilates classes at a local studio. She also loves running and yoga. Jesika lives in Medford with her dog, Leo.