Interviews for new director of Veteran Services Office underway

The Veteran Services Office (VSO) has been understaffed for over the past six months, but the national search for a new director is coming closer to an end.

In August 2018, the VSO lost its director followed by its program assistant in October 2018. As of March 1, these two administrative positions have not been filled. However, the VSO director search committee is now in the interview phase.

Daniel Maxwell, interim vice president of student affairs, said telephone interviews were conducted Feb. 21 and 22. Maxwell said the search committee will review the top candidates, most of whom are veterans, and pick three or four to be invited to the UHCL campus during the last two weeks of March.

During the on-campus interviews, there will be open sessions for student veterans as well as the community, department heads and campus partners, to meet the candidates. The people who attend these sessions will then report their opinions of the candidates, and this will aid the search committee in deciding which candidate will be the best fit for UHCL.

Previously, the VSO was staffed with a director, coordinator, and program assistant. April of last year the previous director retired and the coordinator was moved into that position only to quit three weeks later. Since January, Natasia Pilling, the previous program assistant, has been serving as the interim coordinator.

Maxwell said that there is currently no plan to post the program assistant position. Maxwell wants the new director and Pilling to evaluate the staffing needs to best serve the student veterans. Maxwell said it may be that a different staffing model is needed, and he will be open to new ideas.

Alec Mckinley, army veteran, information technology major and a student worker at the VSO, feels to run the department they need “way more than we have.” He explained that the amount of incoming paperwork is their biggest hurdle, and he would like to see six or seven employees to help process paperwork in a speedy manner.

Pilling said there are four student workers in the office, and they are in the process of interviewing a fifth.

“Our student staff has shown remarkable dedication to keeping operations running as smoothly as possible,” Pilling said. “Their hard work coupled with invaluable support from University of Houston certifying officials has kept our office functional for our veteran and veteran-connected students.”

Maxwell said the reason the hiring process has taken so long is because UHCL wanted to evaluate the current needs of the VSO and its veteran students.

“Let’s take a step back and objectively say ‘how are we doing this good work and how can we elevate it to do it better?’” Maxwell said.

This spring the VSO moved from the Division of Academic Affairs to the Division of Student Affairs.  Academic Affairs oversees offices such as admissions, registrar, financial aid and Office of the Provost while Student Affairs oversees student services such as clubs, sports, student-work programs, and student health and well-being.

The process of reevaluating which division was the best fit for the VSO started in August 2018 with a town hall meeting followed by focus groups led by Brad McGonagle, executive director of human resources. The results of these focus groups prompted the move from the Division of Academic Affairs to the Division of Student Affairs. Maxwell said the goal is to support the whole student, not only academically, but emotionally, socially and to help student veterans integrate back into a non-military community.

“It was then decided that the Division of Student Affairs were better suited to support the whole student veteran,” Maxwell said.

There will be a Student Veterans of America meeting in the VSO March 6 from 1 to 2 p.m. for all students interested in being involved with veterans at UHCL.