Skylar Braithwaite, the newly named director of the West Virginia University Office of Campus and Community Life, always knew she wanted to make a difference, but she wasn’t sure how. She found just that in her current role leading a group that helps students handle life’s unexpected challenges.
After growing up in Hedgesville, she came to WVU in 2012 as a first-generation college student and earned her undergraduate degree in political science in 2016, before taking a couple of years off to decide her next step.
“I applied and was accepted to the WVU College of Law, but it was just not the right time. I had some family stuff happening. I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to undertake that right out of my undergraduate experience,” she said.
Braithwaite returned to WVU in 2019 to get her graduate degree, during which she had an internship at the City of Morgantown. There she met Brian Walker, now retired from the Office of Campus and Community Life, who was impressed by her work.
“I was at the city manager’s office at the time, and it was the Decennial Census, so my main project was helping to coordinate between the state, county, Census people and WVU,” she said. “I was lucky to meet Brian through that process because it was COVID-19 time, and the city could no longer pay me for my internship. When I applied to Campus and Community Life, he recognized my name.”
Braithwaite began working as a program coordinator in October 2020, two months before earning her graduate degree. In 2024, she was named assistant director and was selected as the interim associate director shortly afterward.
Now, as the newly named director, Braithwaite is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of students by providing essential resources, including guidance on off-campus housing and commuting as well as overseeing the Advocacy Center and co-chairing the Collaboration, Assessment, Response, Engagement or CARE Team.
The CARE Team is a multi-disciplinary team that advocates for at-risk students. The team is focused on identifying, preventing, assessing, intervening and reducing threats to the safety and well-being of students and the greater WVU community.
Anyone can make a referral if they suspect a student may be in crisis and the CARE Team will do whatever it takes to help no matter the day or time.
“It could be really anything,” Braithwaite said. “Maybe it’s, ‘Hey, they’re just acting differently. They’re withdrawn,’ or ‘They’re struggling academically. Can you help provide resources to them?’ There’s nothing we say ‘no’ to.”
The CARE Team, housed in Campus and Community Life, began in 2016 to allow for better coordination between faculty and staff across schools and departments in helping a student suspected to need support. The team received around 130 referrals in its first year of operation. Throughout the 2024-25 academic year, there were over 1,100.
“Awareness of it has really grown and I anticipate it staying that way, because we’re trying to make more faculty aware of it, and students aware that we are here to support them,” she said. “We have resources available that can help. Even if a student ends up being OK, the vast majority say they appreciate us reaching out. We’ve dealt with some really heavy stuff.”
Braithwaite said she is grateful to be surrounded by a supportive group of colleagues who are as dedicated to the students.
“Having really great people like Dean of Students Carrie Showalter — who is the other CARE co-chair and has been a wonderful mentor to me — the case managers, Student Legal Services and Vice President for Student Life Gary Furbee around is important. Everybody will jump in and help in any way they can to benefit the students and we’re all on the same page,” she said.
The Office of Campus and Community Life is part of the Division of Student Life and is always open to students who need support, whatever that may be. Recently, the office has coordinated with a student’s professors during a hospitalization, found housing for a former foster youth, provided Mountie Bounty assistance for a student low on funds, and procured and delivered a wheelchair to a student who needed it.
“We really try not to send a student to somebody else if we can,” Braithwaite said. “Obviously, there are some things we’re not experts in, but getting the information they need and relaying it to them is helpful. We try our best not to say, ‘Actually, you need to talk to this person,’ because nobody likes to be passed around.”
Braithwaite is committed to keeping the Office of Campus and Community Life and the CARE Team open to any student who could use support.
“Don’t hesitate to come to us because that’s why we’re here every day. If you’re concerned about a student or if you’re a student yourself and have concerns or you have a friend you’re concerned about, we’ll be able to help out,” she said.
Braithwaite said making a difference in a student’s life is her favorite part of the job.
“I really do like working with students,” she said. “I think I identify with a lot of them and can actually make a difference. I like talking to the parents who are so appreciative or talking to the students, who are so stressed when they call, and giving them what they need to know it’s going to be OK.”
