Meet the Chief Well-Being Officer and Vice President of Wellness for Integrated Health, Safety, and Response Services

Erika Charles serves as Vice President for the Division of Wellness Services and Chief Well-Being Officer at Kean University, where she provides strategic leadership in advancing a comprehensive and holistic approach to well-being across the university community. Her work prioritizes the physical, emotional, social and financial well-being of students and employees and focuses on creating systems and environments that remove barriers to success and promote individual and institutional thriving. 

In her role, Erika provides leadership and oversight for the Kean Wellness Center, Cougar Connections Center of Social Work, KUBIT, the University’s multidisciplinary behavioral intervention and support team, the Trauma Response Team and the University’s Wellbeing Taskforce. Through these areas, she advances proactive intervention, prevention, crisis response, caring support and coordinated services designed to address the complex and evolving needs of the university community. 

Erika is also responsible for advancing university policies, procedures and practices through a comprehensive well-being framework. Her work focuses on strengthening institutional systems, fostering collaboration across disciplines and embedding well-being into the culture and operations of the university to support student and employee success. 

Prior to joining Kean University, Erika provided leadership and consultation to school districts in supporting and advocating for at-risk students and families through Intervention and Referral Services, Special Education, 504 Planning and Transitional Services. She has extensive experience in mental health, K–12 education, crisis response and systems-level change. As part of the Traumatic Loss Coalition, she supported schools and communities responding to sudden and traumatic loss through crisis mobilization and psychological first aid. 

Throughout her career, Erika has worked with educational communities to strengthen policies and procedures related to student mental health and substance use needs, while supporting alignment with New Jersey Administrative Code and best practices in social work. Her professional experience reflects a commitment to developing responsive, inclusive and sustainable systems of support for students, families and educational communities. 

Erika holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Social Work from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in Educational Leadership from Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

Erika is passionate about creating meaningful change at the systemic level and advancing a culture of well-being in which the social, emotional and educational needs of students, families and employees are recognized and supported. Outside of her professional work, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, walking and traveling.