ASUO President Emma Kallaway swore in 12 new members of her staff Tuesday, her first working day in office.
Kallaway had promised to incorporate into her government students from all three of the campaigns that supported her in the 2009 election. Three of Kallaway’s opponents endorsed her in the general election after she beat them in the primary.
Among Kallaway’s hires were six students who supported or worked for her own independent campaign for presidency. Three of the new staff campaigned for the Students First slate, and four worked for the True Blue Student Coalition candidate slates during the election.
Kallaway also said she would try to incorporate students from diverse backgrounds and experiences in her staff. Ultimately, all of her hires had prior experience on campaigns in the election and in the ASUO’s internship program. The majority will be seniors next year.
However, Kallaway attributed the hiring of experienced students to the large pool of applicants. About 60 students applied for jobs on Kallaway’s staff, she said, and she conducted 40 interviews before hiring the current crop of staffers. She said Monday that it was the largest hiring process anyone in the ASUO could remember.
Despite the rigor of the process, Kallaway still needs to fill 11 more positions on her staff and budget committees, including the finance coordinator, who oversees the allocation of the ASUO’s more than $12 million budget. Kallaway said of the hiring process for the position, “We’re going to continue to do that until we feel like we have a lot of applicants to choose from.”
The new appointees took their positions during a ceremony in the EMU Maple Room, where they were introduced to their predecessors on 2008-09 President Sam Dotters-Katz’s staff.
The former president had kind words for the new hires. “There’s wealth of talent in this room,” he told Kallaway. “I think the people that you’ve picked are just overqualified.”
After Dotters-Katz spoke, Kassa outlined his and Kallaway’s expectations for their staff, taking the opportunity to comment on the conduct of earlier staffs. “The (egotism) has to go,” Kassa said. “And this is more toward the incoming staff than the outgoing staff.”
Kallaway kept only one member of Dotters-Katz’s staff – Environmental Advocate Daniel Rottenberg. “It was a no-brainer,” Kallaway said, adding, “He’s right at the perfect phase where he has all the enthusiasm and a lot of things he didn’t get to finish, but he has all the know-how.”
However, Rottenberg, who campaigned for Kallaway’s opponent Nick Schultz, said he is the only member of Dotters-Katz’s staff who reapplied. “I was in the midst of working on some things and making contacts, and I felt I owed it to myself to stay on,” he said.
After the ceremony, the meeting moved to the ASUO office, where Dotters-Katz’s staff showed Kallaway’s how to use phones and explained the contents of their desks.
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President Kallaway swears in new staff on first working day
Daily Emerald
May 26, 2009
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