TMCnet News
Roberta Kelly to fill Aldaz's shoes as interim(The Sun (Yuma, AZ)(KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 2--With the interim executive director of Northern Arizona University-Yuma retiring, NAU officials have appointed a second person to temporarily fill the position as the search continues for a permanent replacement. The title of the position has been changed from executive director to associate vice president and campus executive officer. Roberta Kelly, associate director of student services, will serve in the position on an interim basis following the retirement of Anna-Marie Aldaz last Friday. David Camacho, special assistant to the president of NAU who chairs the search committee, said in addition to the title changing, the position has slightly changed as well. Instead of reporting to the provost and the vice president of academic affairs, NAU-Yuma's associate vice president and campus executive officer will now report directly to NAU President John Haeger. "Before the job was more academic-oriented," Camacho said, "But (now) the nature of the position is much more administrative (and) managerial (with) more emphasis on managing the affairs of NAU at Yuma." Camacho said the search committee has identified 10 candidates for phone interviews and, following those interviews, the pool will likely be reduced to three to five finalists. The finalists will visit Yuma as part of the interview process. Camacho said the committee would like to make an offer to a candidate within the next couple of months with hopes that they can begin around the first of the year before the spring semester begins. "We're taking our time on purpose," Camacho said. "This position is extremely important for NAU and for Yuma and we want the best possible person to take on this position and the responsibilities associated with the position." Camacho said the ideal candidate will have experience with both the university setting and the community college setting. "Arizona Western College is very important to us. (We're looking for) a person that has quite a bit of experience with two-plus-two programs," he said. "NAU-Yuma is important also in the sense that this person needs to know something about community involvement. We expect the person to be involved in the Yuma community. We're looking at such things as board experience and commission experience and criteria like those to give us a sense of their community involvement. Ideally this person will know Yuma more broadly." The committee is also looking at leadership qualities and experience with management, fundraising, faculty, staff and students. "Right now it appears that we have some very good candidates," he said. Kelly has been at NAU-Yuma since 1992. She is currently working toward a a doctorate in educational leadership and said, for that reason, she has not applied for the position on a permanent basis. Kelly sees her interim role as an incredible learning experience, and said she'll be able to help the new associate vice president settle in. Kelly holds bachelor's and master's degrees from NAU. She started her career at NAU-Yuma as clerical support in the faculty office and went on to serve as a financial aid counselor, academic adviser, assistant director and associate director for student services. "My role as an interim will be to maintain the existing programs, but also continue our movement forward in partnership efforts ... making connections in the community for addressing economic concerns -- not only maintain the existing partners and programs but also investigate possibilities for future partnerships," she said. Kelly said she won't be making any major changes. Aldaz, who served as interim executive director for the past year until she retired Friday, said Kelly will do a wonderful job and will help ease the transition when a replacement is named. "She will step in and go," Aldaz said. "She knows the student services part, and this (administrative) part. She will be a very useful bridge for the permanent director." Tammy Krikorian can be reached at [email protected] or 539-6847. |