When Mike Andreasen was hired as vice president for University Development in 2010, his goal was to lead the department in building external support for the campus community. Since then, the responsibilities of public relations have changed in accordance with the evolution of technology and communications, and the University of Oregon is changing to keep up with the times.
The department is merging University Development and University Relations into a new program titled University Advancement, which Andreasen is appointed to lead. Although the departments are shifting, he said his goal of building support for the UO remains the same.
“Generally the functions that are being performed now … will continue,” Andreasen said.
Under the renovated system, to be implemented in mid-April, the seat of former vice president of University Relations will be eliminated when incumbent Michael Redding leaves the UO at the end of April.
Andreasen will commence his new position working as vice president of University Advancement on April 15.
UO economics professor Bill Harbaugh — administrator of the UO Matters blog — keeps a close eye on campus administrative policies, especially in regards to extraneous spending. In his opinion, the creation of University Advancement could be a positive change to consolidate departments.
“I sort of think it makes sense,” he said. “President (Michael) Gottfredson really needs to do something to cut administrative costs, and this will hopefully save at least one salary because you’d have one vice president instead of two.”
Although the budget for University Advanced has not yet been projected, Gottfredson says the creation of University Advancement was intended to provide a more integrated and efficient approach to public relations while conserving funds. The 2012 budgets for both the University Relations and Development departments were $11,731,767 and $9,804,642, respectively. This is compared to $8,730,767 for Relations and $7,708,584 for Development in 2009, an increase of $3 million and $2 million over three years.
“This change will … create efficiencies and cost savings, which I intend to invest in our research and instructional operations,” Gottfredson said in an announcement released on April 2.
Betsy Boyd, associate vice president for public and government affairs, is one of the administrators who will find her chain of command and supervisory structure rearranged due to the most recent administrative overhaul. Her department — previously accountable to University Relations — will now be a sub-department of University Advancement.
Although the overhaul is a new development in terms of university progression, its implementation will actually return the system to the model it functioned as before the appointment of former UO President Richard Lariviere in 2009 — one that most universities use and allows greater financial efficiency, according to Boyd.
“Redding’s departure creates the opportunity to return to a model that’s used at a lot of universities where you combine all the external relations functions under one vice president and save some money because he’s got the opportunity to create efficiencies,” she said.
She is optimistic about the future direction of UO communications under the administrative efforts of Andreasen.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with somebody who is well poised to help the university make clear its mission to the state and provide some support for our service mission,” she said.
According to Andreasen, despite the change in the department titles, their core mission of raising outside community support for the UO remains the same. The biggest change, he said, will be an increase in efficiency between the two departments.
“The change is just working in a consistent and efficient way,” he said.
In addition to restructuring these departments, the Office of the President is receiving a facelift in the form of a new director of public affairs and president’s office communication.
According to the classified posting at Poynter Institute Online, the new communications director will be directly in charge of the preparation of the president’s oral, visual and written materials; the development and implementation of new internal and external communication policies, in addition to collaborating closely with the offices of public and government affairs; and strategic communications. A large aspect of the new position will be regulating the use of increasingly digital mediums of communication, including maintenance of the website for the president’s office.
Phil Weiler, vice president of the office of strategic communications, said new methods of communication have increased the demand for presidential correspondence over recent years and necessitates the implementation of a communication specialist specifically for the president. He claims that the position is not a new one — as the new director of public affairs and communication will also be filling the role previously occupied by a presidential speechwriter up until Lariviere’s administration in 2009.
“I think this is a recognition of the fact that there are more ways to communicate with the public than we’ve ever had before,” Weiler said. “Hopefully, it’s going to open up new opportunities on campus and off for the president to be working with other groups.”
Director of communications for the Office of the President at Arizona State University, Denise Quiroz, saw her duties increase with technological advancement as well. When she first started at ASU a decade ago, she was the lone communications officer who dealt specifically with communication needs for their president. Since then, she has moved into an increasingly managerial role, coordinating three additional communications staff members who specialize in the areas of graphic design, constituent communications and community liaison.
In her opinion, technology is the leading motivator for these types of changes.
“As more and more work came to pass, we needed more and more help to handle everything,” she said. “With online communications and social media and all of that, there’s a lot to handle.”
As innovation continues in the field of technology, Weiler believes that it’s time for the UO to catch up with its peer institutions — like ASU — by updating its communications in order to better suit the needs of its students.
“There hadn’t been any investment for a very long time in any of the central administration,” he said. “We need to do a little bit of catch up in order to make sure that we’re not negatively impacting the educational opportunity of students.”
He believes the change to University Advancement will allow the department to re-evaluate its operations and help it improve.
“Now is the logical time for us to take stock of how we operate internally and how we can do it better,” he said.
As the office continues to evolve, Andreasen holds the same vision that drove the departments before.
“I see the office as one that serves the campus community,” he said. “That is my vision and purpose.”