How ‘Dean Bob’ Jose inspired generations of Northeastern students during his hall of fame career

Jose, a fixture in the Northeastern community since 2004, was recently recognized by the Northeast Association of College and University Housing Officers.

by Alena Kuzub

December 2, 2024

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Robert Jose isn’t a professor at Northeastern University, but he teaches students every day.

His life lessons — like how to resolve conflicts or come to a mutual understanding — are invaluable.

“Most of my time, I simply sit and listen to them,” says Jose, the university’s dean of cultural and spiritual life.

Student challenges run the gamut, Jose says, from tough academic stretches to roommate issues.

Usually, he says, the students figure things out for themselves. When they can’t, he helps them find resources or the right person who can assist.

“I’m here for them whether they want to talk about life, their experiences, or issues that they’re facing,” Jose says.

A native of Queens, New York, and a fixture in the Northeastern community since 2004, Jose previously served as the university’s associate dean and director of residential life.

And last month he added another title to his resume: Hall of Fame member of the Northeast Association of College and University Housing Officers, a professional association for higher education housing and residence life professionals. NEACUHO is a regional organization of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International, founded in 1951, which connects 1,000 member institutions in 16 countries.

He was only one of three inductees.

“I’ve had a great career as it turns out,” says Jose, who has been working in higher education for 41 years. “I met my calling.”

At Northeastern, Jose collaborates with faculty and staff to support Northeastern students and provide an inclusive environment.

“Bob has skillfully guided and supported thousands of Northeastern students over the years,” said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern University. “His unwavering commitment to young people has impacted countless lives and inspired us all at Northeastern. We are grateful for the care, wisdom, and empathy Bob continues to provide to everyone around him.”

While Jose is being honored for his long and successful career, his real reward, he says, is the success of his students. He works with students across the global network to enhance their academic and personal experiences. 

Student success is his mission

Angelica Jorio, a Northeastern student from Italy, met Jose in the spring of 2022 while serving as president of the Student Government Association. She would meet with Jose, an SGA advisor, every week to discuss how the student body could better work with the university’s administration.

“A lot of times he served [as] that bridge and that switchboard,” says Jorio, who graduated from Northeastern in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics.

After the end of her SGA term, Jose became Jorio’s personal mentor.

“He had an unwavering belief in me, and he always reminded me that I could achieve anything I put my mind to,” she says. “He definitely made me feel part of the Northeastern community. He’s one of the biggest parts of my Northeastern experience, and he definitely made me more proud to be a Husky because there’s someone like him in administration that is caring for students.”

Zuleka Woods, who is from Liberian, received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and cultural anthropology from Northeastern in 2011, and a master’s degree in higher education in 2013.

Woods says she wanted Jose to be her mentor the time she met him at first-year orientation.

“He was so humble [despite having] so much authority and power,” she says. “I was in awe just watching him talk to this whole group of freshmen — this Black man in a room full of young people of every race, every color.”

Starting her sophomore year, they met every other Wednesday for the next three years, talking about everything from academia to personal life to religion.

“Bob is very human-centered. I think [it] doesn’t matter who you are, race, gender,” she says. “He’d always ask, did you eat? Are you OK?”

Some of his mentees, Jose says, or students who used to come talk to him, are now in the residential life field themselves.

Daniela Rodriguez, who graduated Northeastern in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and international affairs, was determined to make a career in civics or politics. Jose introduced her to the world of higher education, she says, showing how it could be a worthwhile career. 

“He really just became my greatest mentor and one of the best people I’ve ever met, not only at Northeastern, but I think in life,” Rodriguez says.

Rodriguez currently works at Northeastern as an associate director of global student success, while writing a dissertation on training student life professionals.

“Bob has been really instrumental in providing guidance in where to take that conversation,” she says. “So again, that mentorship continues … to the end goal of helping all of higher ed, at least in New England.”

The university has also supported him

While Jose has supported Northeastern students for decades, he says the university has also supported him — especially when his son, David, passed away from cancer about 12 years ago.

“They came around me in such a caring, special and very sensitive way that made me feel all the things that I look for students to feel,” he says.

At age 70, Jose says he isn’t ready to retire. He thanks Northeastern’s students for keeping his fire burning.

“What I’m doing now with them is so energizing to me, because they’re really interested in making Northeastern the best possible place they can,” he says.

Jose says he fell into higher education by accident. He planned to pursue a career in international business but picked up a job as a graduate resident director while an undergrad at the University of Buffalo. 

“I really liked it,” Jose says. “I discovered that I had a way of working with people and making them feel comfortable.”

The university hired Jose as a full-time resident director after graduation, putting him in charge of a building that housed about 300 students. After that, he worked as associate director of residential life at Boston College.

At every stop, he has tried to build a residential system that is sensitive to students. 

“I believe residential life is meant to create an environment where not only there’s a sense of community, but there’s a sense of belonging,” Jose says, “where people feel valued, they feel seen, they feel welcomed.”

Jose credits the Association of College and University Housing Officers with helping him grow professionally. In 1997, he became the group’s first person of color to be elected president.

“Interestingly, for me, that really wasn’t a big deal back then,” he says. “But today, when I received my award, I understand now that this was a really big deal.”

Outside of his job, Jose spends a lot of time with his church family and a tight circle of close friends. He loves reading and watching classic movies such as “Sherlock Holmes,” “Rocky” and “The Godfather.”

“Anybody who knows me will tell you that I’m a big ‘Star Wars’ fan and I’m a big ‘Star Trek’ fan,” Jose says. “My favorite movie of all time is ‘The Godfather,’ closely followed by the original Star Wars movie. I saw that movie in the theater about 18 times.”

Jose is also rapidly growing his hat collection — in about two years he went from one hat to about 50 or 60.

“They are part of my persona around here,” he says. “I’m becoming known by students out in the community as ‘Dean Bob’ or ‘the man with the hat.’”