Questioner: Anonymous
Posted to: George Rainbolt, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
When there is a call for reallocation to student scholarships from across campus, all units must think of ways to contribute to that funding (which is fine since this is focusing on the students), but
1) Rate from unfilled lines may possibly be used so that departments may not be able to request a needed line (should be a priority to better serve students)
2) The dean says the COAS web/media person hire may be put on hold but might still be able to move forward. Why can’t departments continue updating their sites and maybe have meetings to make sure all units are on the same page (uniformity across the college)?
If unfilled lines are potential sources of the scholarship revenue, then so should this potential admin position (another one in the dean’s office).
Response by: George Rainbolt, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Thank you for your question. I place a high value on the transparent allocation of resources. The COAS Dean’s Office is happy to answer any questions about resource allocation.
In the recent temporary reallocation to support student scholarships, no rate from unfilled lines was reallocated. I have not heard anyone suggest that colleges will be asked to reallocate rate from unfilled lines to scholarships.
I believe that support for web pages across the College is an important priority. Several departments and office managers have expressed frustration with needing to design and update websites. As you suggest, some level uniformity seems to be a good idea. However, it would not be appropriate to have too much uniformity. We must strike a balance.
As you suggest, the Dean’s Office is exploring a number of different possible configurations for a web/media position. The Office of Human Resources specifies a number of different sorts of positions that might be used for a web/media person. We are also reaching out to other colleges to see how they configure their web/media staff in hopes that we may find some good models that we can adapt to the COAS situation. In consultation with the department chairs, I hope to select a model for the web/media position by the end of the fall semester.
Departments are free to update their sites as we explore the options for the web/media person. Several departments have updated their sites recently. Others have decided to wait on updates until this exploration is finished.
Yours in peace,
George Rainbolt, Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
