AVP’S added to finance and academic departments

Two new jobs have been added to the Wilfrid Laurier finance and academic departments with assistant vice presidents beginning their duties over the summer months. Wayne Steffler and Tom Buckley, respectively, have been hired to aid the current staff and look ahead to the future success of the school.

As the Laurier community continues to grow and expand, the university has decided it must also extend its staff and support faculty to provide proper services. “We’re stretched very thin at the top. It was a move to be more strategic,” said vice-president of finance Jim Butler.

According to Butler, the division of tasks within each department – that will be possible with the hiring of two new assistants – will allow for the attention to and completion of tasks that would have otherwise gone unattended due to time constraints.

Steffler will be assisting Butler with his portfolio and, in addition, will be overlooking bookstore, printing and parking needs.

Currently, he is working on improving the efficiency of both the bookstore and the printing system on campus to save time and money. He will also be involved in the financial side of board committees and the senate.

With the opportunity to shape this new job position Steffler is looking to “improve the administration of the university” and make sure that WLU is “efficient and effective.”

In the academic department, Buckley will be working with student recruitment, the registrar, teaching support services and information technology services.

He will be monitoring enrolment, making sure that as more students come to Laurier they continue to receive the services and attention they need while here, and will also be creating an IT strategy and comparing our technology to other universities.

His vision for the new position is to make it easier for students to learn by analyzing and improving learning facilities and environments.

He explains how phase one will be to take an inventory of what is there already and phase two will be looking at what should be there by asking, “How can we do it better?”

WebCT is one challenge that he will be taking on, analyzing its effectiveness, whether or not it provides enough support and availability for students and ultimately if it is the right database to be using.

Both Steffler and Buckley have focused their attention on improving the current systems in place at Laurier and ensuring that students and faculty are provided with the services and support that they will need while here.

“Fundamentally, people who come to work at a university come to help people learn,” said Buckley.