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Hiring policy could affect chancellor search
UW System freeze on concurrent positions for administrators challenges job security, Mash says
DJ Slater
Issue date: 9/19/05 Section: Campus News
The search for UW-Eau Claire's new chancellor may come from a smaller pool of candidates after UW System President Kevin Reilly and Vice President David Walsh placed a freeze on concurrent, or "back-up" positions back in August.
This is a concern for Eau Claire, Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson said, because without the ability to offer a back-up position to an administrative staff member, the university won't be able to recruit top candidates.
"(Students) want to make sure that we get the best administrators possible," Larson said. "We want to make sure the pool of candidates can be as extensive as possible.
"If we don't have any back-ups and we don't have a concurrent multiple year contracts, then we could be placing ourselves at a disadvantage," she said.
Because of Eau Claire's situation, however, Larson said the Board of Regents and Reilly would negotiate a settlement with the new chancellor if he or she requested a back-up position. If the new chancellor seeks tenure, then the back-up suspension will be irrelevant in this situation, she said.
Concurrent positions were developed as early as the creation of the UW System on Oct. 11, 1971 to provide administrative positions with job security, said Donald Mash, executive senior vice president of the UW System. If a professor takes on an administrative position and either performs poorly or doesn't enjoy the job, that person still has another job to fall back on.
Because the UW System competes for employees on a national level, losing this option due to the suspension is hurting the system, Mash said."Some legislatures have been beating us up pretty badly that our personnel system is in need of repair," he said. "That's what we're working to clarify."
This is a concern for Eau Claire, Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson said, because without the ability to offer a back-up position to an administrative staff member, the university won't be able to recruit top candidates.
| "We could be placing ourselves at a disadvantage." -Vicki Lord Larson Interim chancellor, on not allowing back-up positions in the UW System |
"(Students) want to make sure that we get the best administrators possible," Larson said. "We want to make sure the pool of candidates can be as extensive as possible.
"If we don't have any back-ups and we don't have a concurrent multiple year contracts, then we could be placing ourselves at a disadvantage," she said.
Because of Eau Claire's situation, however, Larson said the Board of Regents and Reilly would negotiate a settlement with the new chancellor if he or she requested a back-up position. If the new chancellor seeks tenure, then the back-up suspension will be irrelevant in this situation, she said.
Concurrent positions were developed as early as the creation of the UW System on Oct. 11, 1971 to provide administrative positions with job security, said Donald Mash, executive senior vice president of the UW System. If a professor takes on an administrative position and either performs poorly or doesn't enjoy the job, that person still has another job to fall back on.
Because the UW System competes for employees on a national level, losing this option due to the suspension is hurting the system, Mash said."Some legislatures have been beating us up pretty badly that our personnel system is in need of repair," he said. "That's what we're working to clarify."