Student Affairs Ecosystem Initiative - 5/31/19

• Department chairs made initial estimates for number of academic program support staff positions needed in each department. Department business managers weighed in on tasks related to financial matters such as student insurance and training grants. Variability in practices between departments reinforces our belief that department leaders need flexibility in how they organize this work. We’re grateful to chairs and other faculty leaders as well as business managers for their insight and guidance.
• HR review of all Ecosystem position descriptions Ecosystem is complete. We expect to receive formal classification information this week. Thanks to Assistant Dean for HR Steve Regan and his team for pulling out all the stops to help this work move quickly.
• The Ecosystem plan is undergoing budget analysis as input to a funding allocation proposal. Thanks to Assistant Dean for Finance and Business Katie Thornsvard for her leadership. Chairs and other senior leaders can expect to learn about the proposal in the coming weeks.
• Individual Ecosystem Career Development discussions with student services staff members start Monday, June 3 and will wrap up Wednesday, June 12. We held a meeting with student services staff this week to share the process, asking them to complete a questionnaire about work and career interests prior to their meeting. Thanks to Steve Regan, HR Team Lead Linda Mitchell and Associate Dean for Student Affairs Charletta Sims Evans who will join me for these discussions. We expect to match individuals to positions by mid-June, then circle back with chairs for their input before notifying staff no later than the end of June. We’re so appreciative of our staff’s continuing engagement and positivity during this understandably unsettling time.
• Because there are more positions than existing internal staff, we plan to recruit externally for positions not filled by internal staff. This will happen as quickly as feasible after internal staff learn their ‘homes.’ We’ll need your help publicizing the open positions among your networks!
• We continue to work through answers to questions about operationalization, everything from who will serve our 2^nd year MPH students to how chairs will have a meaningful “dotted line” to staff serving students in their department. We expect to accelerate work on operationalization in the coming weeks.
• Remember Phase 3, implementation of services for student and alumni career development? Implementation planning will get underway this week. You’ll learn more in our next update about this important work, whose scope includes alumni relations as well as employer relations and practicum support.
• Have a question or a concern? Send a note to SPHEcosystem@unc.edu or check out our web page.
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