Student Affairs Ecosystem Initiative - 7/26/19

It’s been a month since our last regular update owing to the special announcement of the Ecosystem that Dean Rimer and I sent to all faculty and staff on July 10. In case you missed it, there’s a copy attached.

We’ve been busy! With less than a month to start of classes, there are many, many activities underway to get ready for our new and returning students. The new Office of Student Affairs (OSA) senior leadership team, including Associate Dean for Students Charletta Sims Evans, Director of Admissions Johnston King, Director of Student Services Greg Bocchino, and Lead Academic Coordinators Jonathan Earnest and Adia Ware, is already hard at work, and many other individuals and groups are also helping us prepare. Here are some highlights of work underway:

• All staff are transitioning to their new roles, with expected formal transition sometime after August 1st. The full OSA team is at a transition retreat today to do further planning, and will also attend a special stress management seminar next week led by Culture of Health leader Penny Slade-Sawyer. We continue to appreciate everyone’s strong support of our staff as they juggle old and new priorities. They are amazing! We also appreciate the expert guidance of the SPH HR team throughout the process.
• We’re working through logistics decisions related to the staff transitions, including office moves, computers, phones and the like. A good rule of thumb is that Academic Coordinators other than those supporting MPH students, as well as Academic Program Support Coordinators, will continue to be located within departments. MPH Academic Coordinators and staff with specialist roles will be located in or near OSA office suite Rosenau 263. We appreciate Facilities Manager Brent Wishart’s work to help us identify and set up spaces for transitioning and new staff.
• We’re recruiting! Evaluation of candidates for newly created Registrar, Recruiter and Awards & Funding Coordinator positions has begun. We’ve also begun evaluating candidates for one remaining open Academic Coordinator position to serve MPH@UNC students. Thanks to all those serving on search committees to find us top talent.
• Round 1 transition meetings with department chairs and their designees have been completed. Rounds 2 and 3 are planned for September and November. Tight coordination between OSA and department leaders will ensure consistent messaging to students and help us identify and solve problems quickly. We’re grateful to chairs and other department leaders for their continuing commitment. We’ve also scheduled transition meetings with Dean’s Office and Finance units.
• We’re working on a quick guide for faculty and staff to assist students seeking services or contact people. If you have specific ideas about what would be helpful, we want to hear from you! Please use SPHEcosystem@unc.edu to share your ideas.
• We’ve drafted an Ecosystem communications plan for the next 12 months that ensures you’ll continue to hear from us via multiple channels and have regular opportunities to offer feedback. Thanks to Communications Director Matt Chamberlin and Assistant Dean for Strategic Initiatives Elizabeth French for their effort and expertise.
• OSA web pages have been updated to reflect Ecosystem changes.
• We’re working on a proposal for short-term changes to student tracking processes and systems. This will tide us over so we’re ready for incoming students, and form the basis for improved solutions going forward.

We’re learning more every day that it takes a village to build an Ecosystem! Thanks to all who continue to contribute. As ever, please reach out to SPHEcosystem@unc.edu with suggestions or questions, or browse our web page. You can also subscribe or unsubscribe to this biweekly message by sending an email.