New VP for Student Services is named

    James D. Morales from the University of Minnesota, Morris, will replace Gary Chambers as USU vice president for Student Services, USU President Stan Albrecht announced Friday in a Board of Trustees meeting.
    According to a press release, Morales is currently the associate vice chancellor for enrollment at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and in the past worked as assistant director of Student Support Services for the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
    Albrecht said he hopes Morales will make his new position more accessible to students.
    “We’ll deeply miss Gary, but James will be a valuable asset,” Albrecht said.
    The press release states Chambers will retire in June and Morales will start in the position sometime this summer.
    The Board of Trustees also approved a proposal Friday from the department of management information systems (MIS) in the Huntsman School of Business which consolidates its three emphases into one. The change will take effect fall semester 2009.
    According to the proposal, the managerial, technical and training and development emphases will be combined into a single MIS major. The proposal document states streamlining the curriculum by removing the emphases will allow the school to “make more efficient use of existing faculty.”
    Raymond Coward, executive vice president and provost, said, “This is (the Huntsman School of Business’) response, frankly, to the series of budget cuts.”
    Also during the meeting, Coward said 87 percent of the voluntary separation program applicants were approved.
    “It doesn’t solve the problem, but it gives administrators a card to play that they didn’t have a month ago, so it gives flexibility,” he said.
    Although the university is doing what it can to protect the school from budget cuts’ impacts, Albrecht said the school is already anticipating another cut in the fiscal year 2011.
    “The big challenge is as we look ahead,” he said.
    Application numbers are up 18 percent this year, but Coward said this doesn’t necessarily mean USU will see increased enrollment numbers. High school seniors nationally are applying to more schools during this economic crisis, and he said they will wait to enroll until they see if they can find financial aid.
    “There’s a bit of uncertainty,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
    The board also approved a proposal from the School of Teacher Education and Leadership in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. The proposal asked for the creation of a master’s of education specialization in instructional leadership, which will take effect fall 2009.
    Coward said the master’s has been a two-part program in the past. The new master’s will quicken and shorten the program, and Coward said this will make it look more attractive to possible applicants.
–rac.ch@aggiemail.usu.edu