Former Third- and Fourth-Year Class Dean Jonathon May died on Dec. 9 at the age of 40. May worked at Allegheny from February 2022 to May 2024 and was one of three inaugural class deans, a position instituted by former Allegheny President Hilary Link.

Dean for the Student Experience Ian Binnington hired May, and in an interview with The Campus, fondly remembered how excited May was when Binnington called to offer him the job.

“I had the sense from the beginning that Jonathon would bring us something — and did bring us something — that I think was very, very important,” Binnington said.

Erin O’Day-Frye, the executive director of the Center for Career and Professional Development, worked closely with May during his tenure at the college, when O’Day-Frye served as dean for student success.

“He was definitely, like, a ray of sunshine every day he came in,” she said.

As a class dean, May’s responsibilities included establishing one-on-one relationships with students, helping students successfully complete their academic career and personal goals and generally supporting students in navigating their undergraduate years. O’Day-Frye said May’s “kind soul” was clear to everyone around him.

“His kindness and genuine caring also showed up in his relationships with students,” O’Day-Frye said. “He genuinely cares about students — inviting them into his office to sit down, to have a conversation, to really care about how they were doing.”

May would regularly hold accountability meetings for students to help them stay on track with their academics, especially their senior comprehensive projects.

“There are literally students who I am convinced graduated because of his efforts,” Binnington said.

O’Day-Frye remembered May as fully embodying the “Woo” characteristic outlined in the CliftonStrengths talent assessment tool. People exceptionally talented in the “Woo” theme “love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone,” according to the website of Gallup.com, which created the assessment.

“In your world, there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet — lots of them,” the description concludes.

O’Day-Frye and Binnington both recalled how much May loved programming and throwing what Binnington described as “parties with a purpose.” That love shined through during an interview with The Campus in April 2022, when May lamented that junior year is often a “forgotten” year.

“I’m planning to work with a committee to introduce events and traditions unique to the junior year,” May told The Campus. “I don’t want students to forget their junior year because I recall that my own was a blur.”

May succeeded in creating lasting traditions at Allegheny, primarily by creating Junior Appreciation Week and instituting Junior Pins. While at the college, May was also responsible for organizing Gator Day, and he took over Senior Week planning from the Office of Student Life.

“That couple of years when he was here,” Binnington said, “I could rely that if there was a student in need in that class, if there was a program that he was working on, that he would just take it and run with it.”

Binnington believed that May’s enthusiasm for his job was partially motivated by his past as a first-generation college student who had come from a “relatively impoverished background.” For his undergraduate degree, May attended the University of Mary Washington, a liberal arts school in Fredericksburg, Virginia. May told Binnington that his college experience changed his life — a sentiment similar to what Binnington has heard from many Allegheny students.

“I think the thing that attracted him to Allegheny, and the thing that attracted him in particular to the work that he was doing as a class dean, was that sense of being able to participate in that transformation,” Binnington said.

May was also dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives. On his LinkedIn, reviewed by The Campus on Feb. 4, May wrote that his goal was “to contribute to the advancement of individuals and organizations that are making a difference in their communities as well as promoting diversity and inclusion.” His dissertation for his doctorate in education studied “the impact of gender normative restrooms and minority stress on transgender students in college.”

Prior to his time at Allegheny, May worked as a residence hall director at Bowling Green State University, a residence life coordinator at Mercer University, an adjunct professor and director of student affairs and chair of multicultural affairs at Nova Southeastern University and an adjunct professor and director of student services at Larkin University, according to his LinkedIn.

May left Allegheny to start his new role as associate director for student development and community engagement at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2024, where he oversaw the university life space and events’ student engagement team.

In a message to the university life team one day after May’s death, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the vice provost for university life wrote that May “helped create vibrant opportunities for community building and connections.”

Binnington thought May’s departure from Allegheny was due to a desire to return to the East Coast rather than any professional unhappiness. O’Day-Frye added that May’s strong love for his family and husband likely played a role in the decision.

Though his new home was several hundred miles away, May remained connected with former colleagues. Six months after his departure, a Christmas card from May and his husband, Joseph Infante, unexpectedly arrived in Binnington’s mailbox.

“I didn’t even know he knew my home address,” Binnington said with a laugh.

The news of May’s death in December hit Binnington hard.

“I’m old enough, and I’ve been here long enough, that I’ve seen students pass away; I’ve seen students I taught pass away; I’ve seen young alums pass away; I’ve seen colleagues pass away; I’ve seen emeritus, retired faculty, pass away,” Binnington said. “And I don’t want to say that I’ve gotten used to it because I don’t think you ever do. But it’s not the first time that I’ve had somebody that I’ve worked with closely, who I consider to be a friend, pass away. But this one was a, you know — what is the universe doing? Why did you take this one?”

In an email to Allegheny alumni and employees announcing May’s death on Dec. 12, Binnington encouraged everyone to remember May for “his infectious sense of positivity and his enormous care for those around him.”

Binnington received multiple replies to his message from those who knew May.

“It was all the same thing: that he was just (a) great individual, he was always positive, he was always smiling,” Binnington said. “He was always trying to see the best in people. He was always trying to get people to see the best in themselves.”

May’s obituary described him as someone who “always loved school, enjoyed going to the movies, traveling with friends, especially with Joe, his husband and soul mate.”

Prior to his death, Binnington said, May was planning a trip to London.

In Binnington’s experience during the several years they worked together, it was “difficult not to like” May. His positivity was a core characteristic that everyone will remember him for.

“He’s one of those people,” Binnington said, “who made everybody around him better.”