Casey Stafford
- M.A., Higher Education, Elon University
- B.A., Faith and Social Justice, Belmont University
Casey Stafford joined the student life team at Lenoir-Rhyne in September 2023 as director of student involvement and leadership. She began her higher-education journey as an undergraduate resident assistant at Belmont University almost 10 years ago.
Stafford worked for a few non-profit organizations after graduating from Belmont with a Bachelor of Arts in Faith and Social Justice with a minor in entrepreneurship. She founded The Word Wagon, a literacy nonprofit, from 2015 to 2019 with a mission to change children’s lives one book at a time in the Nashville metropolitan area. She also supported other Nashville entrepreneurs as an administrative business partner at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
Although she found success and fulfillment working in the non-profit sector, Stafford felt a pull to return to higher education, so she pursued a Master of Arts in Higher Education at Elon University, where she remained after graduation as an instructor for Elon’s first-year experience and then as a community director for residence life.
The role of director of student involvement and leadership brings together the full spectrum of Stafford's education and experience, providing opportunities to work directly with students to support them through different phases of the university experience and utilizing her experience with entrepreneurship, volunteer organization and event management to assist students who want to establish new campus organizations and help existing ones grow.
Stafford defines her time at LR by gathering input from students, faculty and staff to develop and tailor strategies to engage students in campus and community life by serving their needs and interests and by effectively communicating opportunities to get involved.