Last year the University of New Mexico came up with a great plan to save some cash. The university pays the vice provost, Wynn Goering, $192,000 a year. Why not eliminate Goering’s job and hire three part-time people to do the same thing? The idea was to hire faculty to do administrative duties part-time. The university thought it would save $70,000.
But the plan was implemented so poorly that the school will now have to pay $120,000 more in staff salaries. According to an article by James Monteleone in the Albuquerque Journal:
Any cost savings were derailed when UNM officials realized… Goering had already signed a new contract to keep his $192,000 job.
Nonetheless, interim Provost Chaouki Abdallah said he wanted to go forward with his reorganization, which would now add $120,000 in new administrative expenses.
To clear the way for the provost’s new hires, UNM President David Schmidly created a new position for Goering, according to university officials. But the provost’s office will continue to foot the bill for Goering until his contract expires next year, officials said. The result is a Provost’s Office that employs five associate vice president-level positions, up from two last year.
What are all those vice provosts going to do anyway?
According to the article, UNM now has some 22 vice presidents and associate vice provosts.
