Educator Profile: Raphael Okutoro

by Gillian Galle

Raphael Okutoro

If you spend enough time on campus, there are some names that come up again and again in conversation. Many times, you get to nod back enthusiastically in the conversation because you’ve actually crossed paths with that person numerous times. Other times, you start saying to yourself “Gee! I really should learn more about that person!” So it was with great pleasure that I reached out to Raphael Okutoro for today’s profile.

Raphael has served as the Assistant Director of Admissions for Castleton for seven years, managing the transfer process for students. You’ve probably also heard his name come up in conversations about graduate program coordination (he serves as the admissions representative for the Master’s in Education and Master’s in School Psychology Leadership programs) and conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion (he was a member of the president’s Committee on Inclusive Excellence in 2014 where he chaired a subcommittee that conducted the Campus Climate Survey).

We are fortunate that one of the first things our transfer students encounter is his friendly smile and infectious good nature. He will tell you that his success working with our students is due to the efforts of the team he works with. I think it comes from his recruitment philosophy:

I approach recruitment from a holistic point of view. i.e., put yourself in the shoes of that student from the first phone or email interaction. What’s their story? What will Castleton mean for the student?

Using this unique perspective, Raphael is able to meaningfully connect with our students and provide students with their first lesson in the Castleton Way. By inviting them to consider what Castleton can mean for them, the students learn more about who they want to become and what goals they want to pursue. As Raphael put it:

From birth, we’re always learning from people around us. Formal education is a means to achieving status, but the lessons we glean outside a curriculum make us wiser. Our job should be more than a job. We must think of what we do as a task to inspire the future generation, always keeping students’ interest in mind.

From the way students casually attribute their decision to attend Castleton to Raphael’s influence, it is clear that he is playing an important role in inspiring our next generation! They are also learning their first lessons outside of their Castleton curriculum from Raphael: that every student is valued for who they are and that everyone on campus wants to help them succeed from the moment they think about enrolling in Castleton.