Recent vacancies in administrative positions and limited resources, including budgetary constraints, have led the Division of Student Development to reshuffle some positions. Responsibilities are being doubled, and others are being dumped in a glimpse of what may be in store for University of Southern Maine – which faces increasing operation costs.
Forced by the need to fill positions and strained by budgetary concerns Craig Hutchinson, newly appointed vice president for student development, has reexamined responsibilities within his department. The results have been a reshuffling of duties among his staff, with less important or dated responsibilities being terminated in order to better serve those duties more imperative to the university, said Hutchinson.
“Anytime we have an opening we try to find the best way to fill it and sometimes that means moving responsibilities and reducing others,” said Hutchinson.
He recently stepped into his position after Judith Ryan, the previous student development vice president, became executive assistant to USM President Richard Pattenaude.
“If we reduce responsibilities it’s because we felt that they were not a priority,” said Hutchinson.
The division is forced to reexamine priorities and decide if there are any responsibilities that are no longer imperative to the university’s goals, he said. But those responsibilities may reemerge in the future as the university’s needs change.
The reexamination and reshuffling is not seen as a problem in retention of staff unless it is an issue that is beyond the department’s control, like the budget, said Hutchinson.
“This is an opportunity to keep from going stale,” he said. “We are given a chance to review responsibilities in order to meet the goals of the organization.
Regular review is needed, and the result will bring proper realignment of duties.
The affects of shuffling
The person most effected by the new repositioning is Mary Kay Kasper, who was associate director for student leadership and community development last year. But this year has brought her a new title and new responsibilities. She is now associate director for co-curricular programs and is responsible for programs on both the Portland and Gorham campuses.
Originally Kasper was to be on the Gorham campus exclusively, but the recent resignation of Women’s Resource Center Coordinator Beth Martin in August forced Hutchinson to assign the added duties of the center onto Kasper. As a result, a third of her intended duties in Gorham have been put off for a year. Martin left the university to take a position in Africa.
The responsibilities of the center will not be unfamiliar to Kasper, as she acted as Martin’s supervisor, said Hutchinson. Currently Kasper spends two days a week in her new Gorham office, while the rest of the week is spent in her space at the Women’s Resource Center on the Portland campus.
The vacancy has offered some good to the division in that money budgeted for the coordinator’s position can be reallocated back into the department’s overall budget. Currently, the money saved from the salary of a full-time Women’s Center coordinator is being put back into the student development budget for use in other areas. But as money becomes tight, responsibilities will be reviewed and changes may be made as to what responsibilities are important and what may be cut.
“The lack of one salary will help with the financial difficulties,” said Kasper.
The money saved would prevent cuts from being made elsewhere in the department, she said. She admits that the department, as well as the rest of the university, needs more financial support.
Kasper plans on remaining temporary coordinator of the center for a year, with the search for a permanent replacement tentatively planned to start in April. After the position is filled Kasper will be able to start her remaining duties on the Gorham campus next fall.
A bleak future
But filling vacant positions may be in jeopardy as student development begins to look at its budgets for the next few years. Like the rest of USM, as well as the University of Maine System, the department expects increased costs with the new budget starting July 2002. The new costs will bring new strains on an increasingly stretched budget, forcing the entire school to make some choices in relation to those raising costs.
One positive sign for the retention of some services in Student Development may be from a proposed study reviewing the university’s diversity program. Student Development is planning on hiring an independent consulting firm to do the research study. The primary focus will be on the university’s efforts in diversity, which will include the Women’s Resource Center. Though the study is in the planning stages, it will examine diversity programs and may determine if such programs will continue. But, it is expected that the study may help in keeping some positions and duties in place in order for the University to meet its goals for diversity.
“If anything, they’ll probably say that we don’t have enough resources,” said Kasper.
Kasper’s original responsibilities were a combination of three duties. The first is to help Steve Nelson, assistant to the Vice President for Community Standards. This is a new role to assist the overly busy department in Gorham. She is also working as a representative for underrepresented students within the Gorham campus community. A similar service already exists at Portland Student Life and Kasper’s role is to expand that service to Portland’s sister campus. She would act as a resource for underrepresented students, as well as for staff and faculty that wished to create related programs for students.
The third role she was supposed to take on was in running a commuter life office in Gorham. The new office would assist students who travel to the school. Currently commuters make up 85 percent of the student population.
“The commuter life office in Gorham will be new and is strongly needed,” said Kasper.
But the Gorham commuter life office is being put on hold until next year while Kasper acts as interim coordinator of the Woman’s Resource Center in Portland.
Despite the extra duties, Kasper remains confident that her part is crucial to the future progress of the division of Student Development.
“This is a pilot role and is a very crucial piece,” said Kasper. “It’s an honor to try something new, but I have a lot of work to do.”
Staff Writer Steve Allan can be contacted at: [email protected]