During Point Loma Nazarene University’s fall 2024 semester, Scott McGowan, former director of community life, announced an abrupt departure from the position, after working at the university for six years. He officially announced his exit from the Office of Student Life and Formation in an email to ASB members on Nov. 13, just a couple weeks from the end of the semester.
“It is with immense gratitude and some sadness that I share with you that I am taking a new position on Dec. 2 and leaving PLNU. … Though I do not directly oversee many of you, I am always in the background supporting your work and your leadership development. It has been a great privilege,” McGowan said in the email.
McGowan left PLNU to work as manager of customer management at Pathify, the software company that hosts the MyPLNU app.
“I noticed I had a good connection and good rapport and a good mind for how the product was meant to work. I saw that it had the potential to be a transformative solution for millions of students going through college experience all over the world and began to, maybe a year ago, consider what it might be like to join that team,” McGowan said.
While the transition into a new role was a quick turnaround, McGowan said, the news that he was leaving didn’t come as a complete shock. He said he had been in communication with his supervisor about where he was at in his career journey, and this announcement didn’t come as a surprise.
“But then after that, the priority was telling the student government officers, those are the students that I work with most closely, have the closest relationship with and are engaged in the most meaningful work of all of my program areas,” McGowan said.
For Colby Douglas, ASB president, the news was emotional as he had found a mentor in McGowan, a former ASB president himself.
“I found out in a one-on-one with him; it was a pretty emotional conversation,” Douglas said. “He kind of let me know before, like, right before, he had officially taken the position, and then he let the board know a few days later. And that was, of course, very emotional as well. And we are very sad to see him go … he gives really good work related advice, and he’s been in this position for a while.”
Despite a quick turnaround, Douglas said that McGowan’s recent medical leave, after breaking his back, prepared the board of directors to be able to operate.
“I’m thinking back to how scared we were going into that, and thinking: ‘Man, we’re not going to be able to to do anything without Scott,’ but then, we still had a very successful year, and we’re able to accomplish a lot even without him,” he said. “And now, having Scott be able to prepare us for his departure like he did in our meeting where he announced it, we had probably 45 minutes to an hour where we all kind of gathered our questions, and he gave high level answers.”
Emery Mundis, ASB director of activities, said she felt like the board was left in good hands.
“He did give us a heads up that he was accepting a new position, and left us fully confident and capable and in the hands of amazing staff,” she said.
The role of director of community life has yet to be filled, and in the meantime, McGowan’s former duties are being split between University Chaplain Esteban Trujillo, Klassen Hall Resident Director Danny Butler and Community Life Marketing Coordinator Elaine Giles. Trujillo has taken on the advisory role for the ASB Board of Directors.
“I will be present with them as long as needed in this transition,” Trujillo said. “Over the years, I have been intentional to be connected to our ASB Board of Directors. It’s a gift to walk with ASB a little closer this year in this transition.”
As McGowan has officially passed off his role at PLNU, he said that he hopes the transition of student government will continue to be run within the hands of the students.
“Advising can often be a lot more work than if you just did it yourself,” McGowan said. “But I am completely committed to the developmental idea that the whole point is for students to get the opportunity to own an organization, a self governing organization for themselves, and to get the experience of managing their own affairs. That is vital to the whole idea of developing citizens in the [university].”
Kate Williams 
Charis Johnston