THE HAWK THE HAWK
Long distance couples share their stories on Pg. 11
February 11, 2015
The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University | Volume XCIII | Est. 1929 | www.hawkhillnews.com
Mayer announces departure
Vice President of Financial Affairs to leave Hawk Hill come early March
CAT COYLE, ‘16 Editor in Chief midst a series of upcoming administrative vacancies, the Saint Joseph’s University Treasurer and Vice President for Financial Affairs, Louis J. Mayer, Ed.D., has announced that he will leave the university in early March. On Feb. 4, President Nariman Farvardin, Ph.D., of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, announced that Mayer had been appointed Chief Financial Officer, Vice President for Finance, and Treasurer at Stevens Institute of Technology, and would join the university on March 16, 2015. Mayer has been an administrative staff member at Saint Joseph’s since 2003, and has worked on projects spanning from the development of the university’s Financial Review Model to standardizing and regularizing the budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting processes, including the creation of a three-year financial plan. Before his time at Saint Joseph’s, Mayer served as Vice President for Finance and Investments and Treasurer at the William Penn Foundation and as Chief Financial Officer at the University of the Arts. Mayer released a statement to The Hawk on his decision to depart from the university: “It has been a great privilege to have served my alma mater as CFO for nearly 12 years, especially during a period of such wonderful campus expansion. With the upcoming transition in senior leadership, the timing was right for me to make a change. The Stevens Institute of Technology recruited me join their leadership team to provide many of the strategic financial management practices that we have begun here at SJU.” On Feb. 4, University President C. Kevin Gillespie, ’72, S.J., announced Mayer’s new role at Stevens in an email sent to faculty and staff of the university: “Lou’s contributions to his alma mater have been enormous during a nearly 12-year tenure as vice president for finance and on behalf of the University I would like to thank him. The announcement at Stevens earlier today was extremely complimentary of both Lou and SJU, and I hope you will join me in wishing Lou and his family the very best. Looking ahead, an interim CFO will be appointed and a national search will be conducted for Lou’s successor.” This upcoming vacancy has added another search to those already being conducted— searches for a new President, Registrar, and Associate Provost for Enrollment Management are currently underway. Searches for a new university Provost, Dean, and Interim Dean of the CAS will begin in the near future. Robert Moore, Ph.D., Faculty Senate president and assistant professor of sociology,
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served on the Budget Advisory Committee when Mayer came on as chief financial officer, and has continued working with him for the past 12 years. Moore said he was somewhat surprised when he heard of Mayer’s plans to leave, but said he understood the move and the timing of the decision. “It’s obviously part of a significant change in senior leadership,” said Moore. “With the Senior Vice President retiring at the end of the academic year and the CFO being gone, that’s a pretty significant void in the leadership structure… we’re going to be seeing a fair number of new faces around here within the year.” Moore said he has hopes that Mayer’s replacement will recognize that the position is incredibly important—not only in keeping the university finances in order, but also in advancing and supporting the academic mission. “The Office of Financial Affairs is extremely important,” said Moore. “I believe that, by and large, its job is to foster the financial well-being of the university and advance its mission, which, at its core, is the academic one.” Photo courtesy of Melissa Kelly
Art courses tossed
Adjunct classes cut due to lack of incoming revenue KATRYNA PERERA ’16 News Editor
At the end of the 2013-14 academic year, a decision was made in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) to cancel certain courses within the art department. More specifically, the decision was made to limit the number of adjunct course sections taught in the department. According to Paul Aspan, Ph.D., associate provost, there are currently 18 adjunct courses being run this semester and in fall of 2014, 12 adjunct courses were run, which are both less than the 24 adjunct courses that were active in the spring of 2014. Dennis McNally, S.J., chair of the art department, expressed that both the department and its students are feeling the effects of the cut. According to McNally, during registration there was a waitlist of approximately 400 students attempting to get into an art course. Classes taught within the art department are considered to fulfill the variable Art/Lit requirement of the General Education Program (GEP), and therefore, as McNally stressed, it is often the case that students need these courses to graduate. McNally explained that when the issue of students’ need for art courses was brought up in discussion, the response was that the requirement can be satisfied by courses other than studio art classes. “The explanation was given
Photo by Matthew J. Haubenstein ’15
that we’re not a signature core department and that the students can graduate without any art courses. They can take music or English or Mandarin…so they don’t really need art,” said McNally. “Well, that felt really like a devaluation of the arts.” Aspan confirmed McNally’s statement by saying that although the CAS is running fewer art courses, students are still able to fill their GEP requirement elsewhere. “Someone can fulfill their GEP by taking art courses or by taking literature courses…or they can take music, theatre, and film courses…so while there is a list of 400 students who couldn’t get into art courses, that’s not to say that 400 students couldn’t fulfill their GEP,” Aspan said. Aspan said that it comes down to a budgeting and revenue decision when deciding the number of art courses cut. He explained that although art is a popular elective for many students at Saint Joseph’s University, running more adjunct courses would not bring in any more revenue for the university. “If we ran 20 more art courses and filled them to capacity, it wouldn’t generate a nickel more of revenue, because all the students are already here, so we’re paying for more adjuncts without generating more revenue,” Aspan said. Joseph Giuffre, adjunct professor in department of art history, had a different take on the situation. Giuffre said that from his perspective, it seemed as if the decision to cut adjunct courses was not considered impactful. According to Giuffre the view is that, “There’s an adjunct salary we could get rid of and we’re only eliminating 10 or 15 [student] spots… [but] you can’t just sort of count seats in classrooms—there are other factors involved.” Aspan pointed out that the art department is in line with the central mission of the university as a liberal arts institution and therefore it is very much needed at St. Joe’s, but until more revenue can be generated, running more art courses is simply ineffective. “At the end of the day, we’re faced with a question concerning the common good,” Aspan said. “We have a fixed amount of revenue and what we have to do is be the best stewards of that revenue so that we can provide our students with all of the educational opportunities and services that they need. So until running more adjunct sections for the variable core generates more revenue, there’s no reason to do it because the mission is [still] being served.”