The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Alexander enyedi

  • Out with the Old and in with the New at HSU

    Out with the Old and in with the New at HSU

    Several administrative changes at HSU suggest high turnover

    In the last three months, three Humboldt State University administrators jumped ship. A game of musical chairs has since taken place as staff have shuffled around to fill the gaps.

    Since November, HSU has appointed a new interim provost, interim college dean, Title IX coordinator, Student Health Center director and Human Resources staff recruitment manager.

    While it’s unclear how the changes will affect HSU, the shifts appear in line with data suggesting high turnover rates among college administrators.

    The changes began in November, when Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alex Enyedi left HSU to become the 11th president of the State University of New York, Plattsburgh.

    Enyedi served as HSU’s provost and vice president of academic affairs since 2015 after leaving Western Michigan University, where he served as a biology professor and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

    Enyedi left WMU amid controversy as his contract expired despite a petition of support with 1,300 signatures, according to reporting from the North Coast Journal. Enyedi said he believed his contract was not renewed due to his requests for raises for female college employees. WMU pointed to enrollment declines and budget adjustments—familiar phrases for HSU—as the cause of his departure.

    “The turnover rate for deans or directors of education topped the list at 22%, while the rate for provosts sat second-highest, at 21%, according to the analysis. Presidents or chancellors came in third, at 18%.”

    Data from Higher Education Publications

    HSU announced Dean of the College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Lisa Bond-Maupin as interim provost on Nov. 26. While Bond-Maupin serves, HSU said it would search for the next provost.

    “There will be a national search for a new Provost, with opportunity for input and participation from individuals across campus,” the Nov. 26 announcement said. “Details of the search plan will be shared when they are finalized.”

    HSU then appointed Spanish Professor Rosamel Benavides-Garb to take Bond-Maupin’s place. Benavides-Garb previously served as associate dean of CAHSS and chair of the World Languages and Cultures program.

    On the same day as the Enyedi announcement, Nov. 20, HSU announced Executive Director of Student Health and Wellbeing Services Dr. Brian Mistler had resigned and taken the job as Chief Operating Officer of Resolution Care in Eureka.

    In Mistler’s place, Associate Vice President of Student Success Stephen St. Onge now leads the Student Health Center alongside Dr. Karen Selin and Dr. Jen Sanford. The Nov. 20 press release noted that the plans for the future of the SHC’s leadership would be revealed in January. In the meantime, the release made a promise to students.

    “In honoring HSU’s commitment to our students, we are looking into opportunities to expand hours and services for students starting the Spring 2020 semester,” the release said.

    HSU then announced the departure of Title IX Coordinator Marcus Winder on Dec. 5.

    “Marcus has been an invaluable team member and has served HSU, with his many years of experience, during a time of great change and uncertainty for Title IX departments across the country,” the release said.

    Taking Winder’s place is Human Resources Staff Recruitment Manager David Hickcox. Hickcox worked for HR and as an investigation officer for the Title IX Office for the last two and a half years, according to the release.

    Recruitment Manager Nicole Log, who, according to the release, has served HSU for five and a half years in the HR department, then took Hickcox’s place.

    Finally, Interim Director of Academic Resources Holly Martel got to remove the “interim” from her title on Nov. 18. Martel, who served as the interim director since 2017, has worked at HSU for 24 years in a variety of roles, from financial planning to personnel management.

    According to 2016 data from Higher Education Publications, a company that publishes college data in its online Higher Education Directory, college administrators experience high rates of turnover compared to other administrators.

    The turnover rate for deans or directors of education topped the list at 22%, while the rate for provosts sat second-highest, at 21%, according to the analysis. Presidents or chancellors came in third, at 18%.

    A summary of the analysis gave a variety of possible causes for the high rates.

    “When compared to other administrators, the cause for such high-level turnover can be linked to many diverse issues such as growing financial, faculty, Board and political pressures,” the summary said. “Also, traditionally colleges and universities have made leadership selections from within, minimizing risk.”

    However, the analysis did not list the administrative turnover rates with which it compared college administrative turnover rates. The Lumberjack has reached out to Higher Education Publications and will update this story online when we receive a response.

    Yet for a rough comparison, according to a Jan. 2020 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total separation rate (turnover) for all recorded employees—not just administrators—for Nov. 2019 was 3.7%.

    The Lumberjack has also reached out to HSU for comment. We received word that HSU Associate Vice President of Human Resources David Montoya and his team are gathering turnover data and will have a comment at a further date. We will update this story online when we receive said comment.

    An HSU memo sent out Jan. 21 revealed results from a spring 2019 Great Colleges to Work For survey conducted at HSU. The national survey, intended to inform institutions about workplace culture, sheds some light on the status of the HSU administrative staff.

    Across 15 categories, the HSU results came back most positive in the job satisfaction, compensation, pride and supervisors or department chairs categories. The results came back most negative in the senior leadership, policies and faculty, administration and staff relations categories.

    HSU will hold two presentations in Goodwin Forum, one on Jan. 24 and one on Feb. 4, to further discuss the findings with faculty and staff, according to the memo.

  • HumBot Says Hello

    HumBot Says Hello

    HSU chatbot introduced to new students to answer campus questions

    This fall, Humboldt State University introduced artificial intelligence chatbot HumBot to provide basic information for new students and transfers.

    Director of Communications and Marketing for Enrollment Management Josh Smith led the project over the last two months until its release.

    Thus far, HumBot has received more than 1000 questions and comments.

    “There is a good chance that those questions may not have been asked if that avenue was not available to them at the time,” Smith said. “We get them at all hours of the day.”

    Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Alexander Enyedi initially pushed for the development of a chatbot two years ago after hearing about a chatbot at Georgia State University. Pounce, the name for GSU’s chatbot, delivered more than 200,000 answers to incoming freshman within the first few months of its implementation in 2016.

    Enyedi, with help from Smith and Associate Professor of Social Work Jen Maguire worked together to create HumBot.

    “I’ve been a passionate proponent for the chatbot technology for over two years,” Enyedi said in an email.

    HumBot is one chatbot among seven within California State Universities. AdmitHub, an AI chatbot service designed for students, developed all seven chatbots.

    HSU created HumBot in the last two months after receiving an $80,000 grant from the Irvine Foundation.

    AdmitHub handed over HumBot pre-seeded with answers to the 700 most common questions asked by first-year students. HSU then needed multiple departments to analyze the answers.

    “It was started off by everybody just going in there, reading all the questions and answers, and first making sure that it was accurate, and second, trying to make it a little bit more friendly,” Smith said.

    HSU staff and summer students then seeded HumBot with an additional 150 questions before it was released this fall. HumBot will continue to learn as students interact with it.

    HumBot responds to fisheries transfer student Matthew Howe on Sept. 3. HumBot has answers to over 850 questions so far. | Photo courtesy Matthew Howe

    “That is going to be an ongoing, multi-year, get smarter each time kind of thing,” Smith said.

    Associate Professor Maguire is conducting research through the bot and Smith said she has been shaping HumBot to address issues specific to HSU. Maguire could not be reached for an interview.

    “She is kind of the intellectual arm of the chatbot,” Smith said. “She and her colleagues are seeding the knowledge base of the chatbot with questions that relate to housing insecurity, food insecurity—HumBot is still learning those things, but it is our particular brand.”

    Transfer fisheries student Matthew Howe used HumBot to find out where to pick up his mail. Howe admitted to being surprised by how well HumBot worked.

    “I thought it worked fairly well,” Howe said. “I was expecting it to not perform at all. I was surprised at how well it did work.”

    Howe said he would use HumBot again, although he doubts he would ask it anything personal.

    Smith noted that questions sent to HumBot can be viewed by the project staff. HumBot is unlikely to be helpful for personal matters, although with the possibility of endangerment HumBot can notify university police.

    Smith hopes HumBot can play an important role in the modernization of HSU’s accessibility.

    “I would just encourage students to kind of re-look at those things that maybe they don’t know about or maybe weren’t up to par with a couple years ago,” Smith said.

    For now, HumBot is only available to new students, but it is expected to roll out for second and third-year students next fall.