The university created the associate vice president position to enhance holistic health and well-being programs and services for Emory undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Raper will focus on strengthening the student experience around health and well-being, providing insights and strategy to improve existing programs and services, and exploring future initiatives.
Raper brings more than 20 years of experience in higher education, providing direct counseling and consultation, collaborative strategic planning, administrative leadership, and classroom teaching. He currently serves in the role of assistant vice president of health and wellbeing at Wake Forest University, which serves more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. He is responsible for a staff of more than 150 and leads the strategic vision and implementation of the university’s campus health and well-being programs, services, and initiatives. He also supervises the Health and Wellbeing Team, including: Campus Recreation; Center for Learning, Access, and Student Success; Office of the Chaplain; Office of Wellbeing; Office of Wellbeing Assessment; Student Health Service; and University Counseling Center.
After joining the Wake Forest community in 2002 as a clinician, Raper held several leadership roles with the University Counseling Center, including UCC Director. In that position, he provided strategic implementation of mental health promotion and outreach, counseling to students, clinical supervision, and crisis response.
“We are delighted to have a professional with James Raper’s exceptional qualifications to lead our new and exciting initiative and build on the already great collaboration across Campus Life and the university,” says Enku Gelaye, Emory’s senior vice president and dean of Campus Life.
“This initiative furthers our strategic priority to enhance integrated health and well-being services for our students,” added Gelaye, to whom Raper will report. “The new role of associate vice president will enable the four areas primarily responsible for delivering those services to continue strengthening their partnership.”
According to Raper, “President Fenves, Provost Bellamkonda, and Senior Vice President Gelaye have all been crystal clear about their shared commitment to student health and well-being, and my interactions with them in recent months have affirmed what I’ve always known about Emory as an exceptional institution. There’s no question about the amazing opportunities that lie ahead – or about my excitement to join this fabulous Campus Life team and contribute to the future of this great university.”
As the chief mental health officer for Wake Forest, Raper provided counsel to the university’s administration, faculty, and staff around mental health and related strategic planning. He also led the development of the WFU CARE/Threat Assessment Team in 2009, served as co-chair from 2009-2014, and continues as a team member.
Raper is a licensed clinical mental health counselor-supervisor in North Carolina and holds a doctorate in counselor education and supervision from Syracuse University. A portion of his doctoral studies explored crisis management in higher education, and his research dissertation includes a focus on suicide intervention skill. Raper also co-authored a book chapter, “Suicide assessment and intervention, crisis and disaster response, managing stress and avoiding burnout.”
In addition to his PhD, Raper holds a master’s in community counseling from Wake Forest and bachelor’s in religion from Colgate University. He serves as affiliate faculty in the Wake Forest Department of Counseling and has previously held a variety of faculty roles in graduate schools at Syracuse and Wake Forest, teaching courses on basic and advanced clinical skills, risk assessment and crisis management, and special topics in clinical settings.
Raper is regularly invited to share his expertise in a variety of national and international venues on topics that include suicide assessment and intervention, clinical supervision, behavioral intervention, and integration of health and well-being efforts in higher education. He has dozens of presentations and publications to his credit, engages with a range of professional associations, and volunteers with several community service organizations.
Arriving in Atlanta from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Raper will bring his wife Paige and sons Cranford, 16, and Emery, 12, and the family pet of 11 years, Waffles, a “spoodle” (spaniel/poodle). Paige has more than 20 years of experience as an educator and K-8 administrator, holds a master’s in language and literacy, and is a skilled quilter. Both Paige and James love sitting down to do their nightly family read with their boys – with Paige doing all the voices. The couple will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary this June.
Read the Emory News Center story on Dr. Raper’s appointment.