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Administration and Finance reorganization and staffing update

Campus announcement

TO:  All Employees
FR:  M. Monir Ahmed, Vice President for Administration and Finance
RE:  Administration and Finance reorganization and staffing update

As many of you know there have been discussions about realigning our staffing and the organizational structure to help with improving the budget situation while continuing to provide adequate support to the campus. While we have not completed all the changes, I wanted to share with you some of the updates that have been implemented.  

Last year the Director of Capital Planning, Design and Construction (CPDC) position was vacated and a decision was made to take pause in backfilling the position as part of campus-wide efforts to realign our workforce. At this time this management position has been eliminated and our Chief Planning Officer, Christopher Dinno, continues to serve in the role providing critical leadership for CPDC projects in coordination with Dana Twedell, Associate Vice President for Facilities Services. This action reduces the campus MPP count by 1 FTE.

The Associate Vice President, Human Resources position was also vacated this past year and Chandra Holte agreed to serve the campus in an interim capacity. The decision has since been made to reorganize Human Resources and eliminate the Director of Talent Acquisition and Workforce Administration position, with those responsibilities being added to the AVP position portfolio. Chandra will continue to serve in this role as the campus Chief Human Resources Officer. This action reduces the campus MPP count by 1 FTE.

Missy Brunetta, who has been serving in the dual capacity of the Director of Emergency Operations (EOC) Center and the Director of Environmental Health and Safety will vacate the EOC role to serve as the Director of EHS. Kendall Newman, the current Risk and Safety Business Operations Manager and Clery and Records Officer will assume the Emergency Services and Business Continuity Manager position. Megan Varnadore, currently the Director of Resiliency and Sustainability Operations, will transition out of Risk and Safety Services to the Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance and will oversee Public Records Act and Records requests as the campus Records Manager. The formerly held sustainability position will be eliminated as SSU partners with CSU East Bay and the Chancellor’s Office to run the Sustainability and Energy Management program as part of a consortium. The currently vacant Safety Program Manager and Hazardous Materials and Environmental Compliance Manager positions will be eliminated. These actions reduce the campus MPP count by 2 FTE in Risk and Safety Services.

In Financial Services, the Accounting and Tax Manager position that was vacated in the fall will not be backfilled. The functions have been redistributed to other staff under AVP David Crozier. This action reduces the campus MPP count by 1 FTE.

Staffing in custodial and building services has been reduced significantly this past year. In order to continue to provide reasonable response time and quality custodial services in the core areas of the campus, Administration and Finance has been working with Academic Affairs to relocate some of the classrooms to better maximize space in Stevenson, Salazar and Darwin halls. To continue to house faculty and staff offices in close proximity to classrooms, we are similarly looking at some potential office relocations from impacted buildings such as Nichols, International, and Ives halls. Conversations with impacted units have begun and will continue in order for the campus to relocate classrooms and office locations. While efforts will be made to complete as much of the relocation prior to the start of fall instruction, some moves may have to be completed during the 2023-24 academic year.

As shared in the President’s March update, our campus continues to move diligently and thoughtfully in its efforts to realign its workforce and decisions about other restructuring possibilities and process or program enhancements are ongoing. This memo once again addresses the decisions made at this point in time. I look forward to continuing to provide periodic updates.

We are all in this together, and I thank each and every one of you for your role in helping us strive to meet our goals.