MIT News Office
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room 5-111
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
Phone: 617-253-2700
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Most major student services
brought into one organization
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For Immediate Release, October 1, 1996
Contact: Ken Campbell, Director, MIT News Office
Phone: 617-253-2700
Email:
The MIT administration has moved to establish an integrated student
services organization with responsibility for many aspects of the campus
living and learning environment. It will report to Professor Rosalind H.
Williams, Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs.
The Admissions Office, Student Financial Aid Office, Department of
Athletics and Physical Education, Bursar's Office, Registrar's Office,
Student Information Systems (MITSIS), Campus Activities Complex, Office of
Career Services and Preprofessional Advising, and Housing and Food Services
will become part of the new integrated organization. All these offices, to
varying degrees, serve both graduate and undergraduate students.
The Admissions Office, while part of the Dean's Office, will retain
its traditional close ties to the Office of the President. Dean Williams
will continue to report to Provost Joel Moses.
The Dean's Office will be organized broadly into three areas,
concerned with academic support, student life, and student information
services.
A new position, Director of Administration and Operations, has been
created and Dean Williams, together with President Charles M. Vest,
announced yesterday that Stephen D. Immerman, Director of Special Services
in the Office of the Senior Vice President, has been appointed to fill it.
Mr. Immerman, together with Dean for Student Life Margaret Bates and the
Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, soon to be named, will comprise
the management team working with Dean Williams. They will work with the
leaders of the units involved to refine the structure and operations of
this expanded Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student
Affairs.
"This move is designed to serve our undergraduates by supporting and
enhancing the whole experience of our students, " Dr. Vest said. "In doing
this, the Dean's Office will support and enhance the work of the faculty,
by providing an improved level of services and support to the departments
and other teaching units.
"I am very excited about directly facing the challenge of creating a
comprehensive organization to further enhance the living and learning
environment on the MIT campus," he said.
"Colleges and universities continually talk about better integrating
these activities. We are going to do it," Dr. Vest continued. "Although
many details remain to be ironed out, bringing all of these offices and
activities under one umbrella positions us to respond more easily to the
directions that will be established by the Task Force on Student Life and
Learning, and that are being developed by the student services
reengineering teams."
Provost Joel Moses said, "The newly expanded dean's office will make
it possible to provide a common perspective on campus life, academic
support, and student-related financial and academic administration. In the
new organization, all these areas will be viewed through the lens of MIT's
educational mission."
Dr. Moses also announced that Associate Provost Phillip L. Clay will
organize an Institute-wide review and coordination of student information
policy. "This review of student information policy will include close
collaboration with existing committees and offices, in order to develop a
common understanding of both institutional and individual needs concerning
the collection and dissemination of student information," he said.
STUDENT INPUT
Dean Williams emphasized the need for student input into establishing
priorities for the office. Some of this input will be provided through the
Undergraduate Association and other student organizations, but the office
will also seek to expand other forms of communication, including an
informal monthly evening meeting open to all students, she said.
"This integrated organization, with a clear focus on educational
goals, will help the Institute respond effectively to future articulation
of MIT's educational mission by the Presidential Task Force on Student Life
and Learning," Dean Williams said. "To this end, the dean's office will
work closely with the Task Force, and with the related standing committees
of the Faculty, during the next two academic years.
"At the same time, the dean's office will interact intensively with
the Student Services Reengineering team, captained by Professor Martin
Schlecht, in trying to develop more efficient delivery of student
services."
Dean Williams said that all members of the new office will be called
upon to help develop the organization on the basis of a commonly understood
mission, full participation, and shared information.
Admissions, Athletics, Bursar, Career Services, Financial Aid,
Registrar, and MITSIS previously reported to Vice President for
Administration James J. Culliton, who died of cancer this past June. Two
of the reassigned offices, Campus Activities Complex, and Housing and Food
Services, previously reported to Senior Vice President William R. Dickson.
MEDICAL DEPT. JOINS
HUMAN RESOURCES
The MIT Medical Department will come under the purview of Vice
President for Human Resources Joan F. Rice, President Charles M. Vest
announced Tuesday.
Dr. Vest said that when this vice presidency was created two years
ago, "the intent was to develop a more modern, comprehensive approach to
human resource development and quality of life on our campus. This
integration of the Medical Department into Ms. Rice's office, which plays
the central role in employee benefits, is a further step in this
direction."
Dr. Vest further indicated that Vice President Rice and Medical
Director Dr. Arnold N. Weinberg face great challenges in shaping the
delivery of medical care to members of the MIT community as national health
care policy and provider organizations continue to evolve rapidly and
dramatically. A Blue Ribbon Panel has been examining medical benefits and
operations for several months, and its report is expected in the near
future.
"With the task of carefully administering the retirement incentive
program last year behind us, I look forward to working with Dr. Weinberg
and the members of the Medical Department," Ms. Rice said.
SPONSORED PROGRAMS
TO HAVE DUAL ROLE
President Charles M. Vest today announced a realignment of the Office
of Sponsored Programs. OSP Director Julie Norris will report to Vice
President for Finance and Treasurer Glenn P. Strehle and will have a "very
strong working linkage" to Vice President for Research and Dean for
Graduate Education J. David Litster.
"MIT is fortunate indeed to have Julie Norris, who is widely
acknowledged as one of the nation's leading research administrators and
policy spokespersons," Dr. Vest said. "Her organization faces the
challenge of providing the best possible support to faculty and research
staff in an increasingly complex federal regulatory environment.
"More challenging still is to set new paradigms for research and
educational programs in partnership with private industry. The structure
we are adopting recognizes both the primacy of providing service to our
faculty and other researchers, and the importance of smooth linkages to
financial operations."
Dr. Litster commented, "The policy and regulatory questions facing
university research in the next few years will be critical ones for MIT.
The national perspective that Ms. Norris' experience brings to these
matters will be very valuable."
"With the advent of SAP, the new accounting system, I look forward to
working even more directly with this office, which oversees the
administration of 3/5 of MIT's revenues," Mr. Strehle said.
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