Officials: Vacancies Don't Hurt Progress

"I'm just holding the position while they're doing the search (for a permanent vice chancellor)," she said. "I'm just a placeholder."

George is one of six people who will serve as interim administrators while the University searches for permanent replacements. Officials who were in those positions announced their departure in the eight-month period from February to October.

Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Susan Ehringhaus will leave the University at the end of the calendar year to work for two higher education organizations in Washington, D.C. Ehringhaus will return to UNC in the fall of 2003 to teach in the law school for a year.

UNC officials also are conducting searches for deans of the pharmacy, education and business schools, as well as vice chancellors for information technology and student affairs.

Although six high-level positions are or will be filled by interim employees starting Jan. 1, University officials said they are not concerned about the vacancies.

Provost Robert Shelton said the number of open positions is a little higher than usual but that it is a normal part of the hiring cycle, particularly for jobs with a high turnover rate. "We've lost some good people, which is unfortunate," he said. "But I'm confident that we have great candidates (to take their places)."

Shelton also said that the interim administrators are experienced in their fields and that he is not concerned that any of the departments will lose expertise.

"Having great people step in for six to 12 months is something the University is blessed by," he said.

Dean Bresciani, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, said holding a temporary position for an extended period of time does not make the job harder but does make interim officials more accountable for their decisions.

"You can't make quick and easy decisions," he said. "You have to make the right decisions."

Sue Kitchen, former vice chancellor for student affairs, left her position abruptly in July for a yearlong research leave to study the "best practices in student affairs." She will not be returning to UNC.

But Bresciani said the level of responsibility given to someone in a temporary position can vary. "Sometimes (the interim) is there to hold things over until a new person comes. Sometimes a person is given the charge to move forward."

While Shelton said UNC shouldn't leave the positions open too long because interim administrators sometimes are "reluctant to take long-term direction," he said UNC is not in that situation.

In the searches to fill the six administrative positions, Shelton said, recruitment for a pharmacy school dean has progressed the furthest. By November, several candidates already had come to UNC for preliminary interviews.

The search committee for the dean of the School of Education had met but had not narrowed down its list of candidates the same month. Search committees for the Kenan-Flagler Business School dean and general counsel have been formed.

The search for the vice chancellors for information technology and student affairs will begin in January. Shelton said there are committees investigating the organization of those departments, which should be done early this month.

The severe budgetary problems in the state during the last year have limited UNC's ability to fund a variety of programs, including faculty recruitment. Vacant positions in many departments have been frozen to save money, and the state's fiscal outlook is still dire.

Although the University is in a rocky financial situation and already has received one round of midyear budget cuts, Chancellor James Moeser said it should not affect the administrative searches because many other institutions are facing the same problem. "All but seven states have a similar situation," he said. "There's no place where you're not going to deal with these budget issues."

Administrators leaving their posts at UNC said the fiscal woes did not affect their decisions to leave.

Robert Sullivan, dean of the business school, said he is leaving UNC to help create a new graduate school for management at the University of California-San Diego. "It's a chance to build a graduate school from scratch," he said. "There is a lot of rethinking in what graduate management should be."

Although the tight budget could affect the University's ability to recruit top administrators, Moeser said he is confident the best candidates will be hired. "I can't imagine a more attractive job than a senior administration position at Chapel Hill," he said. "No one should have concern about the positions being attractive."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.