The University has filled a key administrative position, prescribed to oversee and support the daily lives of students, that has remained vacant for two years.
Administrators selected Robin Holmes, who has served as director of the counseling center since 2000, over two national candidates to become the next vice president of
student affairs.
Deb Carver, chair of the search committee to find a VPSA, said that Holmes’ ideal and goals perfectly matched the University’s priorities.
“She has an extraordinary background,” Carver said. “She is dedicated to this University and to the students who go to school here. She’s given a lot of thought to the intersection of student life and academic life.”
Holmes did not return phone calls Tuesday, but in a press statement said she was excited to expand her role at the University.
“This new position will challenge all of us within the University to develop new and innovative ways to ensure student success at the University of Oregon. I am especially excited to work more collaboratively with my colleagues in academic affairs, as we find new ways to seamlessly ensure academic excellence both in and out of the classroom,” she said.
The VPSA oversees the Division of Student Affairs, an organizational unit that administers the Career Center, the Counseling and Testing Center, the Office of the Dean of Students, EMU, the University Health Center, University Housing; Physical Activity and Recreation Services and the Office of Student Life, according to the University’s public notice of the job position
“In addition, the VPSA represents the University in various external capacities, as both a University administrative leader and a spokesperson on student non-academic issues,” according to the notice.
Despite the position’s student-focused nature, the provost’s office restricted all three candidates from speaking to the Emerald. One candidate withdrew her interview after receiving a call from the provost’s office. The other two candidates replied to interview requests with e-mails stating they were told they couldn’t talk to the press.
University spokesman Phil Weiler told the Emerald in June that the committee didn’t want any one candidate to have an unfair advantage by being quoted by the press when the other two could not comment because of scheduling issues. All three candidates were in touch with an Emerald reporter and had equal opportunity to speak to the press
Additionally, the candidates’ individual student forums, a chance for students to interact with their future administrative representative, also took place during Dead Week and Finals Week.
Those last two weeks of the term are typically very busy for students, said ASUO President Emily McLain. The ASUO typically tries not to schedule events during that time period.
“I only went to one of them and it was the very end because I was in class,” McLain said. “It would have been great if they could have packed that room with students but there was no one. There was one other student.”
Carver said about 20 people – and “very, very few students” – attended the one forum during Dead Week, and many of them were search committee members.
Holmes will leave Aug. 1 for a five-month session at the University of California, Berkeley.
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