During a time when budget cuts have led to frozen hiring and no raises for faculty or employees, Alan Cohn, former director of the University's Faculty and Employee Assistance Program, will have the task of easing the tension among University faculty and staff.
At the end of October, Cohn will take the position of University employee relations director. Cohn will replace Bill Vining, who retired last summer after 33 years in that position.
Cohn said he will try to alleviate the burden of the University's budget woes on faculty and staff.
"The plan is to collaborate with existing programs so that we can provide resources to support people through these times," he said.
Cohn also said he intends to run "any workshops or seminars that would assist with enhancing the mission of employee relations."
Gary Helmuth, special assistant to the chief of human resources officer, said Cohn will be "working with staff to get acclimated with the business" and familiarizing himself with the daily operations of the position.
Helmuth said he is "excited about [Cohn] coming aboard" because he brings with him the knowledge and skills appropriate for the position.
Cohn previously had been working with both the medical and academic divisions of employee relations. In his new position as University employee relations director, he will be focusing most of his attention on the academic division, said Trish Vanhok, director of employee relations in the medical division.
With the recent budget cuts, the University's employee relations staff has been doing its best to ease the tension felt by University employees, Helmuth said.
"We have to be sensitive to where everyone is at from the lower end to the higher end," he added.
Cohn previously ran workshops under the Faculty and Employee Assistance Program to help employees deal with forms of stress both on the job and off the job.
University spokeswoman Louise Dudley said employee resource officers, including Cohn, will provide faculty and staff with information to help alleviate tension.
"We are trying to give out as much information as possible and in as many ways as possible, and Alan Cohn will be one way of doing that," Dudley said.
The recent string of budget cuts has dramatically affected the employee environment, she said.
Budget cuts "are a concern for all employees," she added.
Dudley noted that many University faculty and staff have had to take on additional responsibilities as a result of the budget problems.
College Dean Edward L. Ayers froze all hiring and pay raises last November, because of a decrease in the amount of state funding available to the University.
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