As President Michael Gottfredson’s new chief of staff, Greg Rikhoff’s job description is a lengthy one. Rikhoff was appointed to the position on May 20, after working as the University of Oregon’s community relations director, and less than a month into it, Rikhoff has been busy coordinating events, setting meeting agendas and trying to answer requests on behalf of Gottfredson.
However, Rikhoff believes his duties aren’t exclusively to the President.
“I’m kind of the guy that helps everyone look for the win,” he said. “My job is making sure that anyone who walks into the president’s office is successful.”
With Gottfredson’s turbulent first year as the university president, Rikhoff’s job of responding to requests to the president could be particularly important. Students and staff have expressed displeasure with Gottfredson’s perceived lack of communication with them. During Gottfredson’s investiture on May 30, students protested the increasing tuition and complained that Gottfredson had not been responding to their requests to meet with them.
UO economics professor and UO Matters blogger Bill Harbaugh is one of the staff members at the university who have expressed concern with the lack of communication between Johnson Hall and staff.  Since Rikhoff has been in office, Harbaugh has not seen an increase in communication from Johnson Hall. @@However, he said in order for Gottfredson’s presidency to be successful, communication needs to change, and he is hopeful that Rikhoff could be the one to do so.@@

“I think Gottfredson is a good administrator but he needs allies,” Harbaugh said. “He has to get out and talk to people to build that kind of trust, and he hasn’t done that. Somebody needs to start doing that.”
According to Rikhoff, the complaints of not receiving enough of the president’s time are not unique to Gottfredson. During his time at the UO, Rikhoff has worked with four different presidents and said he had heard similar complaints with each one.
“The reality is with running a large public research institution, those will always be challenges for the president,” Rikhoff said.
That doesn’t mean Rikhoff and the president’s office aren’t working to remedy the issues. Rikhoff said he is looking to help set up partnerships with Gottfredson and student and faculty leaders to ensure more communication between Johnson Hall and the UO community, and the president’s office is trying to find more ways to open communication.
“We’re going to continue to look at how to continue to keep President Gottfredson engaged and accessible,” Rikhoff said. “It’s something we’ve actively been looking at and working on. There’s no simple answer.”
Rikhoff put emphasis on the importance of seeing the University through the eyes of students. Rikhoff has a daughter who is a junior at the UO, giving him an insight into the experiences of students that he said will affect the way he approaches his job.
“I feel very fortunate to see the university through the eyes of students. It helps remind me of the times students are under stress and having challenges,” Rikhoff said. “It helps make me more responsive when students are asking for my time.”
Because of distrust towards Johnson Hall, Harbaugh believes Rikhoff’s job could be particularly important in fixing communication issues from administration.
“He’s in a tough spot. He’s not the president’s spokesperson. But because President Gottfredson clearly doesn’t like to talk to staff or students, and Greg is pretty outgoing, he’s probably going to end up taking over that role,” Harbaugh said. “That’s a good thing. Someone from Johnson Hall needs to start communicating.”
Rikhoff agrees that serving the entire university is part of his job description.
“My job is to assist the president,” Rikhoff said, “but the bottom line is it’s about helping the UO succeed and helping everyone succeed.”