that that position no longer exists.
“I’ve restructured that area because we had a vice president for academic affairs and a vice president for student success who are already responsible for all academic programs no matter where they reside,” Loston said.
“And that was also the mission of the vice president of the Southwest Campus. There was always a conflict of roles and responsibilities.”
Those conflicts included two levels of reporting from the faculty at the Southwest Campus.
One report was to Barringer and the other was to the vice president of academic affairs and vice president of student services at the main campus.
“So we’re going back to having one vice president of academic affairs,” Loston said. “Not one out west and then having somebody responsible for having any of the responsibilities at the Southwest Campus.”
Loston has already put to use the void left after wiping out the position at the Southwest Campus.
“We used that vacancy to have a dean of health sciences. St. Philip’s has more allied health programs than any of the other institutions,” Loston said.
“So we have a dean of health sciences, and that’s where that position came from, by collapsing the duties of vice president of the Southwest Campus.”
Kathy Armstrong, who was transferred from this college to Southwest Campus in June 2003, has yet again been transferred to the student life office at the Central Technology Center in New Braunfels.
She was put on administrative leave March 5, 2003, before moving to St. Philip’s under a cloud of controversy because of an audit investigation into $1,757.74 spent by Armstrong without receipt or contract.
Even though she was physically working at St. Philip’s Southwest Campus, she was still paid by this college.
“Kathy Armstrong, she’s your person,” Loston said. “She’s always been a SAC employee. She’s never been on St. Philip’s roll. She’s a SAC employee and she’s still a SAC employee. That has not changed.”
Her reason for being transferred, this time to this college’s shared site in New Braunfels, is because of payroll, said Blanca Padilla, director of student services at the Southwest Campus.
“I believe the way it was explained to everybody was basically, everybody who was on a particular payroll is going back to the institution that funds that payroll,” Padilla said.
Rounding out those who are leaving or have already left in retirement are:
• Dr. Lanier Byrd, vice president of academic affairs.
• Dr. Adele Dendy, dean, learning resource center.
• Richard Tietz, institutional advancement, grant writer.
• C.L. Leonard, institutional advancement.
• Dr. Maritha Burmeister, director of institutional research, effectiveness and planning.
• And William Lisenby, chair of the business information solutions department.
Lisenby will be returning to St. Philip’s in a teaching capacity.
Alvoid Bennett, the former dean of continuing education, was put on administrative leave in December 2006, prior to Loston’s arrival.
The story of Bennett’s conducting outside business with district vendors, among other allegations of conflicts of interest, broke in the San Antonio Express-News on March 6, 2006, after Loston was installed as president.
“If you look at what’s happening at St. Philip’s, yes, there are opportunities for more leadership, and this is good,” Loston said. “It’s not a negative.”
Loston said there are interims in all positions that are vacant.
“The positions have not gone without leadership. All positions that are now advertised, there is leadership, there is management oversight in all of the areas,” she said.
A committee is now meeting and interviewing to identify qualified candidates to make a recommendation, Loston said.
“We hope to have a dean, and we hope to have a lot of our positions filled by January.”
Loston sees this transition as the next step for the college — a trajectory to the next level, she said.
“This also affords me the opportunity to bring in, to assemble a team, a new team that can focus and be attentive to the directions that the board has laid out,” Loston said.