Vice Chancellor Hunt's Update to Faculty Senate dated November 30, 2006
In my first few months as Vice
Chancellor for Finance & Operations, I have been focusing on refurbishing
the departments within Finance, an area that has been significantly
understaffed. As a result, the University has relied on individuals to take on
an unusual assortment of duties as well as a less-than-reasonable amount of
work for some time.
I thought it would be helpful to
provide an update on our progress toward a fully-staff, better organized, more
customer focused Finance area. As with all transitions, the success of this
reorganization will require equal measures of compassion, patience, and good
humor. We thank you for any that you can spare of each!
- As many of you know, Chuck Hawkins has been serving as Interim Associate Vice
Chancellor for Finance since July. As a consultant, he is not a candidate
for the ongoing position. In fact, he is away on another assignment for
the remainder of this semester, and will return in January for another
three months, while we launch a search for an ongoing colleague in this
position. Chuck, upon his return in January, will be located in Phillips Hall, Room 202, phone 251-
6128.
- As of Monday, November
20th, Karen Shaw
joined us as Assistant Vice Chancellor / Controller. She will be taking
over many of the duties of Jolene Elkins, whose employment with the University ended on November 16th,
after many years of service to the University. Jolene will be pursuing new professional
opportunities and we wish her well in her pursuits. Karen comes to us with many years of
experience in a variety of finance functions, most recently as the
Chief Financial Officer with the Blue Ridge Area Foundation, Inc. Karen is located in Phillips Hall, Room 207,
phone 232-5109.
- As announced
previously, Lydia Gosssett has
been promoted to Systems Accountant, so that she may bring her extensive
experience with our systems and processes to help us realize the full
potential of the Banner system.
Lydia continues to be located
in Phillips Hall Room 211, phone 251-6818.
- Several talented folks who had been working with us
on a temporary basis have successfully surfaced as the top choice in a
search for ongoing staff members in these important positions. You may have already met Al Farrant, who has been helping
out in the Finance area. He has now been hired as our Fixed Asset
Accountant. Al is located in Phillips
Hall, Room 212, phone 251-6560.
- Steve Mack
has been helping out temporarily in the budgeting area since the summer,
and now has been hired as our ongoing Budget Director. He will be helping
to coordinate the efforts of several budget officers across campus as well
as helping us develop a more transparent budgeting process. Phillips Hall, Room 109, phone 232-2268.
- We have recently concluded a search for a replacement
for Minna Callihan, who moved
to Seattle
with her husband’s job. Lisa Thickitt,
who currently supports Student Affairs, has agreed to transfer to the
Finance Area as my Administrative Assistant. She will start her new role
with us on November 27th. Lisa will be located in Phillips Hall, Room 206, phone 251-6742.
- One of the new
positions we have created is a Payroll Accountant. We need more depth and
more hands in this very important process, having understaffed this area
for too long. We are pleased to announce that Barb Terry, currently an administrator at the NC Center for
Creative Retirement, was our successful candidate in our recent
search to fill this position. Barb will be transferring Thursday, November
30th. We plan to coordinate
with our Reuter
Center colleagues for
a smooth transfer. Barb will be
located in Phillips Hall, Room 104, phone
251-6661.
- An additional
accounting position has been created and more information will be provided
at Faculty Senate about this position.
This position will be filled by Brenda McKinney who will be joining the finance department
December 1st, and we look forward to welcoming her. Brenda
will be located in Phillips Hall,
Room 204, phone 232-4999.
- We have also relocated some of our colleagues so that
individuals in functional areas are more proximal to each other. These
include:
- Tricia Tomberlin, Accounting
Technician in the Budget Office – Phillips
Hall, Room 108, phone 251-6884
- Mary Carol Morrison,
Payroll Technician – Phillips Hall,
Room 105, phone 251-6665
- Jesse Ray, Special Assistant to
the Chancellor – Phillips Hall,
Room 220, phone 232-5111
- As we go forward, we will be evaluating other Finance
positions to see if they are properly classified and compensated based
upon their job responsibilities and experience.
- In
addition, we hope to be assigned a full-time IT person to help us train
new and existing staff in Banner.