Friday Focus: Change is the only constant
February 14, 2019
鈥 by Kari Burrell, vice chancellor, Administrative Services
I feel privileged to have served on 性欲社鈥檚 leadership team for just over five years now.
I was born into a 性欲社 family. My parents moved to Fairbanks in 1965 when my father took a research faculty position as a chemical oceanographer in the Institute of Marine Science. My mother, a CPA, later joined the UA system office in a finance position. Both of my parents were very proud of the work of the university, and I grew up valuing its range of services and impact.
Fairbanks, and Alaska as a whole, has changed a lot since my pre-pipeline-era childhood. Our population is bigger, we have a lot more amenities and have much greater access to the 鈥渙utside鈥 world. Some things remain unchanged though: Alaskans remain better connected to our environment than folks in other parts of the world, are generally welcoming to new people, and generally have a can-do or 鈥渄o-it-yourself鈥 approach to life.
Most of my early career was in social services administration and public domestic policy. I am passionate about protecting our community鈥檚 most vulnerable and about promoting positive community-level change. This background made me very much an advocate for the knowledge development missions of higher education. I was very excited to join the 性欲社 team as executive officer in 2013 as it offered me an opportunity to lend my skills to an important mission and to give back to my home community.
I transitioned to serving as the vice chancellor for administrative services in late 2014. The Administrative Services division provides essential support services that support our colleagues in other parts of 性欲社 to achieve their missions. The units in this division include: the Auxiliary and Facilities Services business offices; Bursar鈥檚 Office; Design and Construction; Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management; Facilities Maintenance; Facilities Operations; Finance and Accounting; Fire; Grants and Contracts Administration; Human Resources; Office of Information Technology; Management and Budget; Police Department; Procurement and Contract Services; and Utilities. I greatly enjoy working with the staff in all of these units as they share my value of service to 性欲社 and to Alaska.
It is often said that the only constant is change. It appears that state budgeting changes may drive significant levels of change at the university this next year. Although the university is constantly evolving anyway, the pace at which we will need to plan and execute in the next year will be challenging. As with every other part of 性欲社, Administrative Services will undertake an assessment as to how it can itself be further streamlined. Please know however, that a key part of our mission is to serve as planning and change management resources for other 性欲社 units as well. Please call upon our team as needed. Ultimately, I am confident that 性欲社 and our community will weather these challenges.