The university is sad to see University Center Director Deb Hoefer leave after being a part of CMU’s community for over 17 years. Now the question that looms is, “What will happen without Deb, and what is to become of her job?”

Vice President of Student Services John Marshall and the university are looking at what goes in to being a university director, divvying up the jobs and making some revisions to the position.

“The University Center director is basically a landlord for the premiere space on campus,” Marshall said. “When you think about it, the ballroom and the meeting rooms are the most sought-out places. Clubs and organizations like to use them as a place for their meetings and gatherings. The English Department might use the space for a conference that they might have.”

The University Center is the central hub for students, teachers and the community at large. Students can take advantage of the many student services the University Center has to offer, such as food, banking, books and socializing. To manage the highly-used area is a great undertaking, and such a position requires a lot of work and responsibility.

“The job of the University Center really became centered around Deb,” Marshall said. “She took care of the Pepsi contract and handled all the affairs with vendors like Wells Fargo. When you have someone who has been here as long as Deb has, her job became a lot more roles and responsibilities than what it started out to be.”

Now that Hoefer is leaving, her duties are being divided amongst a team. That team includes Director of Student Life Mitch Karstens, Assistant Director of the University Center Tina Kleepsies and University Center Operations Coordinator Kathryn McMillan.

“We’ve divided the responsibilities amongst a team of people who are already wonderful at their jobs,” Marshall said.

Marshall explained that Karstens is in charge of business affairs of the University Center, Kleepsies takes care of programs and the use of the rooms and space and McMillan manages the details of the building, such as making sure the building stays orderly and ensuring that things run smoothly.

“A lot goes in to running a space like the University Center,” Marshall said. “What I mostly want to stress is nothing is definite yet. It is all a work in progress. We want to take a step back and take the opportunity to make sure that things are being run efficiently and are being taken care of the way they should.”

ebloom@mavs.coloradomesa.edu