PADGETT IN NEW HALF-TIME JOB AS ‘CHAMPION’
Jaye Padgett recently accepted a half-time administrative position at UCSC as Faculty Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor, with a focus on undergraduate retention and time to degree. (During Fall and Winter quarters he will be on sabbatical the other half of his time.) Viewed in terms of an output constraint (so to speak), the charge couldn’t be simpler: ensure that students graduate and graduate quickly. But since many things affect whether students graduate (quickly), the job is also complicated. (To really strain the OT metaphor, it may raise the problem of too many solutions.) The task force that recommended that this position be created called it a Champion of Undergraduate Success, and Jaye finds that people do sometimes call him ‘champion’. When he talked to the EVC about it for the first time, there was discussion of a possible cape and tights.
We wish Jaye well in this new and challenging position.
