Quinnipiac University President John Lahey announced a new administrative position on Monday, Nov. 26.

[media-credit name=”Photo Courtesy John Morgan” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]Senior Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs Mark Thompson will be promoted to the new position of executive vice president/provost, according to a memo sent by Lahey.

The change was made after Senior Vice President for Administration Richard Ferguson informed Lahey of his plans to retire after the academic year.  The new position merges Thompson and Ferguson’s current roles.

Thompson believes the merger will benefit students, enhancing Quinnipiac’s academic value.

“Every time you make a change like this it means opportunity,” Thompson said.“It gives a nice opportunity to integrate things that weren’t integrated before, in ways that better serve students and continue to increase the quality of the educational experience.”

Thompson’s new position makes him responsible for Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Athletics and Recreation, the Department of Public Safety, Facilities and Information Technology. He plans to use these departments together in order to better serve Quinnipiac’s students.

“I think the first thing is to think about how to take all the pieces of the puzzle that are out there under the two current positions, and how to effectively take those pieces of the puzzle and put them together in a way that makes sense,” Thompson said.

Although Thompson does not assume his new position until the summer, he hopes to develop plans soon. He said he plans to meet with personnel from Public Safety, Information Technology, Facilities and the Arnold Bernhard Library in the near future.

“I certainly have my own ideas about how things might fit together, but I think it’s important to get the perspective of everyone involved,” Thompson said. “By doing that, often times, you come up with a better solution than what you come up with on your own.”

While no changes have formally been discussed, Thompson is confident his new role will help to further students’ education at Quinnipiac. He also said students would be involved in the decision-making process.

“I think the ultimate responsibility is to make sure we’re doing everything possible to ensure that students are well served by any change we make,” Thompson said. “Every initiative I’ve undertaken so far, I’ve always made it a point to include students at the table.”

Thompson’s promotion puts him directly under President Lahey, however, the move is not indicative of any potential changes at the top.

“President Lahey has not announced any plans to step down,” Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell said.

Thompson will assume his role full-time on July 1, 2013. He has yet to name his successor as senior vice president for academic and student affairs.