The search for a ninth vice president at VCU is underway following a December decision to split the responsibilities of the office of finance and administration into two separate entities.
According to Michael Porter, associate vice president for public affairs, the decision was a result of VCU’s rapid growth and the administration having difficulty filling William Decatur’s post as vice president of finance and administration when he vacated the position in May.
“As the university conducted a search for a vice president for finance and administration, it became clear that our current structure was not appropriate for the size and complexity of the university that VCU has become,” Porter said.
Porter added VCU was the only institution of its size with the finance and administrative functions combined under a single vice president.
“While that made for a great title, it also made for an enormous amount of work,” said William Ginther, a VCU Board of Visitors member, in a statement to the Times-Dispatch.
Under the new structure, the VP for finance and budget will assume the responsibilities of overseeing the university’s budget, records, finances, grants, cash and debt management, taxes, and contract accounting.
The second position, VP of administration, will manage the university’s human resources, facilities, police, procurement, and risk management planning.
VCU provost and vice president for academic affairs Gail Hackett heads the search committee for the new positions. According to Porter, the committee should fill the positions soon.
Until then, Brian Shaw will take on additional administrative duties to his job as senior executive director to the president while Richard Bunce, a former special advisor to president Michael Rao, will serve as VP of finance and budget.
Bunce, however, remains retired and will not be paid more than 29 hours each week, according to the Times-Dispatch.
Staff Writer, Andrew Crider
Andrew is a junior economics major who has written for student newspapers since he was in high school. Andrew is interested in political history, aviation, photography and running. He has a tendency to refer to his peers, coworkers and bosses as “ma’am” or “sir,” but is getting better about referring to his friends at the CT by their first names instead. // Facebook