New CCSN chief vows changes

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 11 a.m.

The new president of the Community College of Southern Nevada says his regime will be one of constant change, renovation and innovation.

From the beginning of his presidency back in August, Richard Carpenter has made streamlining the administrative hierarchy one of his priorities and he says there may be more cuts to administrative positions.

Currently under the microscope are the college's deans and department leaders, and next on the list is a complete evaluation of student services, Carpenter said.

As the largest institution of higher education in the state, CCSN has a $103.3 million budget with more than 34,000 students, more than 2,000 employees, three main campuses and 12 centers in Southern Nevada.

Administratively, the college has five vice presidents, three chief campus administrators, 12 site administrators, eight deans and 26 department chairs. Carpenter is currently working with administrators and faculty to develop detailed job descriptions and performance metrics for all of the deans and the department chairs.

For now, Carpenter said his goal is to ensure accountability, but he said he will likely have to eliminate at least some of the department leadership positions. He also wants to restructure the job descriptions to give more authority to the college's deans and to keep the department chairmen and chairwomen in the classroom.

Department chairs receive a six-credit reduction in their workload from the usual 15 each semester, which is typically two full courses, Carpenter said. They also receive a stipend of about $7,000 to $10,000 a year depending on the size of the department.

The stipend plus the cost of covering the classes they would otherwise teach can add up to $30,000 to $40,000 a year, Carpenter said, which is a lot of money for a parttime administrator. He said he wants to make sure that amount is justified for every chair position.

Most department chairs and deans who could be reached at the college Tuesday said they believed Carpenter's more detailed job descriptions would benefit everyone at the college.

"It's a way of holding people accountable," Frances Brown, dean of health sciences, said.

Joanne Vuillemot, chairwoman of the department of arts and sciences and chairwoman of the Council of Chairs, said the majority of the chairs were fine with the proposed changes.

"If there are certain standards we have to meet we are more than happy to know what they are and strive to meet them," Vuillemot said.

The proposed job descriptions and performance metrics are scheduled to go before the faculty senate later this month, Vuillemot said. If approved, they will then be forwarded to Carpenter.

College administrators said they were taking a "wait and see" approach on what Carpenter did with the descriptions and the performance metrics. Most said it was hard to see the big picture of how the college as a whole was operating, but that their individual division or department was running efficiently.

"I can only speak for my department, but my department chairs definitely earn their salaries" Paul Pate, dean of applied technologies, said.

Department chairs are elected positions, Vuillemot said. Their main duties are to be student and faculty advisers, which includes scheduling courses, evaluating course content, and supervising budgets, facilities, classified staff and employees within their department.

"There's plenty to do, the larger your department is the more time consuming it is," Frances Campbell, department chairwoman for philosophical and regional studies, said. Her department includes economics, history, political science, philosophy and women's studies.

Jill Mora, department chairwoman for resorts and gaming, said she was impressed with Carpenter's initiative and willingness to listen to faculty in evaluating the administrative structure.

"The reality is that the fact he is doing something is very good," Mora said. "I think that everyone functions better when they know what is expected of them."

Mora said she believed that the job descriptions would show the need for the many department leaders, as many of them are extremely specialized or in technical areas that require expertise to run.

"He's just trying to get a handle on what we do, save the taxpayers money and make sure we run efficiently," Mora said. "This to me sounds like a good thing, but people don't like change."