Updated: May 26, 2016 at 9:09 p.m.
Officials cut about 40 staff positions as part of the University’s most recent round of budget cuts.
GW’s libraries, technology, student affairs, safety and security and treasurer’s offices were all either reorganized or saw jobs eliminated, according to a University release. These were the first changes to come out of budget cuts to the University’s central administration, which University President Steven Knapp said in January would trim budgets 3 to 5 percent each year for the next five years.
Some of the roughly 40 eliminated positions included jobs that were already vacant or became vacant when staffers retired, according to the release.
The Office of Parent Services has also been dissolved, and will be replaced by a new department of Student Support and Family Engagement, which will be run by current student affairs staff.
Officials will also hire a new executive director to oversee the Colonial Health Center, which houses all of GW’s health services.
Peter Konwerski, the vice provost and dean of student affairs, said in the release that these changes were made with input from students, parents, staff, faculty and alumni.
“We remain committed to providing an array of services to parents and families,” Konwerski said in the release. “We believe this new structure will better align existing staff resources to work with the increasingly diverse mix of parents and families who work with the university to support their students through graduation.”
Konwerski said in an emailed statement that the new position, Executive Director of CHC, will eliminate the senior associate dean of students position, which Mark Levine held. He said an outside firm will help the University search for a director who has an “academic background in mental health or medicine” and prior administrative experience at a university.
“We are very grateful for Mark’s commitment to students at GW for the past 20+ years,” Konwerski said in the email. “We are working closely with him as we transition the current team in Colonial Health to this new structure, under a new Executive Director.”
Konwerski also said in the email that the transition in the student affairs office will eliminate the position of Director of Academic Integrity, currently held by Tim Terpstra. Andrew Sonn will oversee both the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities and the Office of Military and Veteran Student Services, and report to Associate Dean Danielle Lico. Terpstra has been at the University for 20 years.
Within the University’s safety and security office, the Office of Emergency Management and the Office of Health and Safety will be consolidated into a new Office of Health and Emergency Management Services, according to the release.
Darrell Darnell, the senior associate vice president for safety and security, said in the release that the changes will take place this summer, and that they will increase the effectiveness of the two offices.
Interim Provost Forrest Maltzman said in the release that the decisions were made to direct more resources for the aid student and their families need, but conceded that the changes will impact students, faculty and staff.
“We’re trying to do this in a sensitive way to minimize the impact on our students and faculty,” Maltzman said in the release. “For example, we’ve reduced our IT Support Center call hours – based on limited demand – as a way to strategically adjust services.”
