CoAL Dean's Office Staff Inflation - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Apr 12, 2005

CoAL Dean's Office Staff Inflation

Date: Apr 12, 2005

yeah, and we are in a budget crisis too.....new lamp poles for everybody!!

Date: Apr 12, 2005

How did this compare with the dean's staff when we had two colleges: Liberal Arts and Arts. Does anyone remember?

Date: Apr 12, 2005

The COTA dean's office had a large staff--in part because of the kinds of programs its departments offered.

dean
assistant dean
receptionist secretary
budget secretary--jan roberts still around
pr officer--angela kilcrease still around
development officer
auditorium manager--rusty rolison still around
pace clerk shared with school of music--tara ?? still around

Date: Apr 12, 2005

Don't trash these people--running the arts is harder than running a strictly academic college.
We NEED the PR person and the guy who manages the halls (Angela and Rusty), and Tara Burcham is the single most competent person I have ever met at USM. She should be president. I don't know about the LA people, but the arts people simply moved over from Mannoni to Pood's office

Let's not get into in fighting between colleges. It is not productive or fair to underpaid, hard working staff.

Date: Apr 12, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Play nice
"Don't trash these people--running the arts is harder than running a strictly academic college.
We NEED the PR person and the guy who manages the halls (Angela and Rusty), and Tara Burcham is the single most competent person I have ever met at USM. She should be president. I don't know about the LA people, but the arts people simply moved over from Mannoni to Pood's office

Let's not get into in fighting between colleges. It is not productive or fair to underpaid, hard working staff."

Agreed. But if the staff of the merged colleges is larger than the combined staffs of the former colleges, then we need to know this--n'est-ce pas?

Date: Apr 12, 2005

Let me second the praise for Tara Burcham...I worked with her when she was in College of the Arts (and even before that when she worked over in the Union), and she is top-notch.

I imagine that most, if not all, of these staff positions were already in place when the 2 colleges merged. Actually, I'm glad to see that they were not fired, and instead they were moved over to CoAL. Direct your ire and anger somewhere else....staff do not deserve it!

Truth

Date: Apr 12, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: LAB rat
"

Agreed. But if the staff of the merged colleges is larger than the combined staffs of the former colleges, then we need to know this--n'est-ce pas?"

Sure--but which position(s) on this list was NOT there before the reorganization? If you've got 'em, name 'em. Don't just spread rumors.

Date: Apr 12, 2005

Also remember that Pood got the salary of some staff raised from $14,000 to $18,000--from dirt to slightly above dirt. Why don't we cut some salaries in THE DOME and pay these people living wages for a change? Lisa Mader makes how much? Tara Burcham is worth what Angie Dvorak used to make!

Date: Apr 12, 2005

Now that's a suggestion I can second! Staff salaries are a bad joke -- that's why some of the Henchcrew salaries are/were so offensive to the people doing the real work.

Date: Apr 12, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: LAB rat
" Agreed. But if the staff of the merged colleges is larger than the combined staffs of the former colleges, then we need to know this--n'est-ce pas?"

I can vouch that these people are working their butts off . . . we basically took the old arts staff and added about ten new departments to their load . . . . without a lot of extra help. And while it is true that the LA folks don't mount quite the ambitious repertoire of programs that the arts gang does . . . their workload has still been considerably added to especially when you consider the extra development work that is needed . . .

Rememember, Brandon came on Board because each college was going to get a technology officer . . .

Date: Apr 13, 2005

What exactly do the "development officer" and "technology officer" do - not what are they supposed to do - what do they accomplish day in and day out for CoAL? Are they needed? Now, maybe their salaries are paid for by 1. the Foundation and 2. iTech? If so, so much the merrier.

Date: Apr 13, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Angeline
"What exactly do the "development officer" and "technology officer" do - not what are they supposed to do - what do they accomplish day in and day out for CoAL? Are they needed? Now, maybe their salaries are paid for by 1. the Foundation and 2. iTech? If so, so much the merrier."

In fact, I believe Kristy is paid by the Foundation. As a director, I can't even begin to list the number of things I have worked with Krsity on just for theatre . . . and I know from my contact with some of the other chairs that development work corsses many programs . . . I doubt that we'd have an Advisory Board without her and I think that has already begun to bear some fruit.

My contact with Brandon is less but in the last couple of weeks I think I have seen quite a bit more about the kind of interfaces he handles in the technology area. My point was that the idea of having a technology person in each college came from the administration - so every college should have gotten a Brandon if they did not have one already . . . . so I don't think you can lay the blame for that aspect of the "expansion" on CoAL. As an aside, both Twilla and Tara do yeoman work on student registration, records, recruiting, previews . . . etc. Once again as a director, I could not function without them. If other directors and chairs bother them as much as I do, I'm sure they have more than enough work to justify their positions . . .

Date: Apr 13, 2005

Former dean Peter Alexander talked the Foundation out of a fund raiser for the old College of the Arts. Garland Sullivan was its first development officer, and he was followed by Suzanne Hirsch. When the COTA was dismantled, Suzanne moved over to CoAL but my understanding was that she was very frustrated and found it almost impossible to raise money in the new environment. (But only Suzanne can speak for sure about this.) When Suzanne left, the salary line was in the Foundation, but that was over two years ago.

Date: Apr 13, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: A penny here, a penny there
"Former dean Peter Alexander talked the Foundation out of a fund raiser for the old College of the Arts. Garland Sullivan was its first development officer, and he was followed by Suzanne Hirsch. When the COTA was dismantled, Suzanne moved over to CoAL but my understanding was that she was very frustrated and found it almost impossible to raise money in the new environment. (But only Suzanne can speak for sure about this.) When Suzanne left, the salary line was in the Foundation, but that was over two years ago. "

I'm sure she was frustrated -- but I'm not sure that is pertinent to the issue of the gorwth of staff and whether they are truly needed. Without a fundraiser/development personthe arts would have a very tough time of it. I don't think it logical that just because the colleges were merged it should mean the position gets lost.

My understanding, to be clear, is that Tim Ryan and the Foundation pays the development officer's salary.

Date: Apr 13, 2005

Stephen,

I agree with you. A development officer is essential, and to my knowledge, Kristi is doing a good job. It is just a shame that the university lost someone like Suzanne, who truly loves it.

Date: Apr 13, 2005

Seems like I recall one of the selling points for the 9-to-5 college reorganization was a plan to standardize the number of administrative and staff positions in each dean's office. For example, each dean would have an associate or assistant dean (that accounts for two positions), and there would be a set number of staff positions. The intended purpose of the cookie cutter college concept was to reallocate resources to the instructional side of the university.

Even iTech's post-reorganizational decentralization of technology officers fits the cookie cutter college concept because each of the five colleges received this additional position. It would be interesting to see the current organizational charts for each of the five dean's offices to see if the cookie cutter college concept is in effect.

Date: Apr 13, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Cookie Cutter College Concept
"Seems like I recall one of the selling points for the 9-to-5 college reorganization was a plan to standardize the number of administrative and staff positions in each dean's office. For example, each dean would have an associate or assistant dean (that accounts for two positions), and there would be a set number of staff positions. The intended purpose of the cookie cutter college concept was to reallocate resources to the instructional side of the university. Even iTech's post-reorganizational decentralization of technology officers fits the cookie cutter college concept because each of the five colleges received this additional position. It would be interesting to see the current organizational charts for each of the five dean's offices to see if the cookie cutter college concept is in effect. "

I thought the idea was to be able to make do with less by merging units and eliminating the need for some duplication of jobs, merging them into others. I'm not sure I ever remember hearing that each college was going to look alike in terms of staffing -- after all, the research mission and capabilities of Science and Tech seem to beg for a different look than, say, arts and letters.

I'm not defending the idea mind you -- I just seem to have missed the "cookie cutter" theory.

Date: Apr 13, 2005

But you are right -- it would still be very interesting to see an org chart.

I'd also like to see something that documents the number of faculty positions gained/lost in each college --