Few University students ever have to hire other students. @@I DO BITCHES@@
Nevertheless, ASUO President Ben Eckstein and Vice President Katie Taylor faced this task after elections last spring. Even before they were sworn into office, the work of hiring an executive staff began.
The 13 members of the executive staff work to assist the president and vice president in advocating for students. Their specific duties range from administrative tasks to working with specific communities of students. There’s a staff member whose job it is to manage the ASUO’s finances, to lobby the state and federal governments on behalf of the ASUO, and to work with the more than 160 programs the ASUO runs and funds.
This year’s staff is smaller than that of former president Amelie Rousseau. Some positions have been brought back, such as the communications director, while others have not been continued, such as housing advocate and political director.
At the top of this diverse group of jobs is the ASUO chief of staff, the position Eckstein held last year. Upon election, Eckstein said that hiring a chief of staff was his first priority. He and Taylor spent the first week post-election reviewing and rewriting the chief of staff’s responsibilities. Before midway through spring term, they found and hired Kerry Snodgrass, then a senator.
Eckstein spoke of Snodgrass’s “experience in and out of the ASUO” as important points in her selection for the job, and described her role as a sort of “third member of the executive.”
“We really wanted someone with a deep understanding of how to support staff members,” Eckstein said about the chief of staff position.
Snodgrass then went through the rest of the job descriptions with Eckstein and Taylor before recruiting began at the midway point of spring term.
“We really focused on having as thorough and professional a process as possible,” Eckstein said.
More than 30 applications were received for executive staff positions, as well as additional applications for executive appointments to finance committees, which were hired through a similar process.
One of those 30 candidates was Andrew Rogers, who is now the communications director. Rogers joined the staff in mid-July, a little later than the rest of the staff, and had to do his interview via Skype from his hometown of Ashland, Ore.
Rogers said he applied for the communications job to help promote dialogue between the campus and the student government.
“I think that outreach between the ASUO and the student body is really important,” said Rogers.
Candidates interviewed with a hiring committee that consisted of Eckstein, Taylor, Snodgrass and one other person. Eckstein selected a different person for each committee to coincide with the position they were hiring for.
Eckstein described this role as someone who “we felt brought an important, additional perspective.”
For example, then-Vice President Maneesh Arora, who was heavily involved in environmental issues before and during his term, sat on the committee that hired the environmental advocate.
Eckstein said he was very happy with the results. “It’s the strongest team I’ve seen in my time in the ASUO.”
“It’s a really diverse and collaborative team,” Rogers added.