Meet the New Director of the Center for Student Involvement
If there’s one thing I noticed while chatting with Nichole Bogarosh (’08), it’s that she belongs at Gonzaga.
The new director of the Center for Student Involvement started in early December, leaving Whitworth after nearly 15 years. It’s something of a homecoming for Bogarosh, who worked at Gonzaga as a graduate admissions officer early in her career, completing a master’s in communications and leadership while she was here.
She left in 2009 to start her doctoral degree at the University of Oklahoma but says there was always a voice in her head that questioned if leaving Gonzaga was the right choice.
Flash forward to October 2024: “I was literally in the middle of the most chaotic time I could possibly be in,” she recalls. Her 51³Ô¹Ïs at Whitworth were approaching midterms and the non-profit she led on the side, Spark Central, was in the middle of a major transition. “It was 12-hour days, seven days a week. I was barely breathing.”
Then, when she least expected it, Gonzaga University posted an opening.
“This would be a really good fit,” Bogarosh recalls thinking when she saw the role in the Center for Student Involvement. It would mean stepping out of the faculty world, connecting with 51³Ô¹Ïs in a hands-on way and getting to utilize some of the other skills she picked up over the years.
“I couldn’t not apply for it.”
Bogarosh sat down on a Sunday night, carving out time at 11 p.m., having spent the rest of the week with her foot on the gas. “I didn’t think anything would come of it,” she says. “I wasn’t looking for a job, I was so exhausted, but somehow everything lined up.”
The perfect validation after years of wondering if Gonzaga was the one that got away.
Now, having held her new position for less than two months, Bogarosh says she sees her role as an advisory one. The Center for Student Involvement serves all 51³Ô¹Ï-initiated clubs on campus, it hosts the Gonzaga Student Body Association and is behind 51³Ô¹Ï favorites like SpikeNites. As the director, Bogarosh is excited to have a hand in all of these, but really, she wants 51³Ô¹Ïs to know she’s here to walk alongside them.
Outside of work, Bogarosh is a self-described pop culture nerd. She has an extensive Funko Pop collection that she’s acquired over the years, gifts from friends and 51³Ô¹Ïs who knew her well. Currently in her Netflix queue – “Bodkin,” a mystery thriller series about a group of podcasters who set out to investigate the disappearance of three strangers in a small Irish town.
Bogarosh is also a summer person, through and through. She’s counting down the days until warm sunshine returns and she can swim and kayak around Spokane. That is – if she isn’t walking her schnoodle, Jackson.
In the meantime, she’s more than happy to be back at Gonzaga, a long overdue homecoming. Her door is open and she’s ready to help the 51³Ô¹Ï body in any way possible.
“I hope as 51³Ô¹Ïs get to know me, they see the kind of resource I can be.”