The office of Career Services will be decentralized June 30, 2007.
Carleen Roy-Butler, Assistant Director of Community Services and Experiential Learning, in an exclusive Chronicle interview, believes it was Quinnipiac University President John L. Lahey’s decision to close the office.
She said Manuel Carreiro, Vice President and Dean of Students told the office of its elimination at a meeting with the staff Tuesday afternoon.
She said those working for the office will have their contracts with the university renewed for only one year, from July 1 – June 30, 2007 before being permanently eliminated. She said that as far as she knows, the positions will not be refilled after that.
Roy-Butler said the university will be “decentralizing” the office by taking it out of its one central location and delegating its responsibilities out to each college at the university.
She said because there are no plans currently in place to relocate all of the functions of the currently centralized office including those of the community service, work study and international student service, she is unsure of whether those programs will be relocated or eliminated.
She does admit, however, “There may be a plan for those three offices, but two days after the announcement, we just don’t know what it is.”
A statement sent to The Chronicle offered the university’s position on the matter.
“We are not eliminating career services, which is an extremely important service we offer to our students as they prepare to enter the workforce,” said John Morgan, a university spokesman. “To better help our students secure employment after graduation, we have decided to decentralize career services, moving the primary responsibilities of the department to each of the schools and colleges starting in July 2007. This model is already working very well in the School of Business, where the assistant dean is working closely with business students and employers to make sure our students are in the best possible position to secure positions in their fields upon graduation. We hope to replicate that success in the other schools and colleges. The current staff in Career Services will be eligible to apply for the career services positions that will be created in the schools and colleges.”
Roy-Butler is concerned about the impact the loss of the central office will have on students, particularly those who are undecided about their college majors.
“For me, as Assistant Director of Community Service, it makes me sad that students will have to find other, ways without the same sort of assistance, to get involved in the community and learn about how they can become productive citizens.”
In fact, Roy-Butler sees little benefit for students in this decision.
“I don’t see how this decentralization can help students who unsure of what they want their major to be and I don’t think it can help, without a plan, students who want to do service or who want to work in an off-campus work-study job, or go on an alternative spring break trip.”
She said that without a plan in place, the information that is being given to prospective students should be in question.
“I just hope that the plan comes out and that we can learn about the plan very soon or else it will make everything more complicated,” she said.
Susan Hyde-Wick, Associate Director of Career Development, Pat Nielsen, Director of Career Services, Mike Minutoli, Assistant Director of Career Programs, Caryn Crane, Assistant Director of Student Employment, and Wenceslaus P’oryem, Assistant Director of International Student Services and Career Development will all be effected by the department’s elimination.
