Who’s in Charge: Introducing the Cabinet at WWC
Sophia Huang | March 24, 2022
“Generally … I know that we have a semi-removed structure, which is normal to administration,” Emza Shackelford-Whitten, a sophomore at WWC, said. “But for the scale of the school, I don’t understand why it’s so removed.”
A sentiment that resonates among the general student body is a certain level of distrust, frustration or ignorance regarding the so-called “administration.” At Warren Wilson College (WWC) when students mention administration, they commonly mean those who are on the Cabinet. The Cabinet is the upper level leadership at the college that consists of the president, five vice presidents (VP), and at the moment, one interim dean. Each position is responsible for one area of the college and collectively as the Cabinet they cover all of them. The Cabinet meets weekly as well as the provost and VPs with each other.
After the retirement of Cathy Kramer and departure of Paul Perrine last academic year, their areas of applied learning and student life were added to the responsibilities of Jay Roberts, Ph.D. His new position as provost, which according to him is the most mission-centered throughout higher education, heads the teaching and learning experience which covers academic affairs, student life and applied learning. According to Roberts, by nature of his provost position, he is first among equals.
“They’re (other VPs) peers of mine,” Roberts said. “We are a team. And that’s the Cabinet here as in anywhere in higher ed(ucation) is seen as a team of peers led by the president, and we work on the operations of the college across the entire range of things that the college has to worry about, like finances, facilities, student life, academics, advancement, admission, all of it.”
Each VP manages a division made up of different departments. For example, Belinda Burke is the chief financial officer and VP for administration and finance. She oversees the school’s budget and operations, including accounting, financial aid, human resources, information technology, facilities and public safety. She also serves as the liaison with Sodexo. Burke joined WWC in July 2019 and is newer to higher education, but she brings extensive experiences from her previous work outside of this field.
Tacci Smith was WWC’s director of student activities and supervisor for the crew at WWC for several years before starting her position as interim dean of students last fall along with several new employees in the residential life team. She heads a lot of student programming, such as student activies, residential life, spiritual life, the counseling center and the queer resource center. Her interim position aims to experiment with a new Cabinet model where she currently reports to Roberts but also participates in Cabinet meetings as a dean and not a VP.
Kortet Mensah, Ph.D., holds the position of VP for diversity, equity, inclusion and strategy. The position was established in response to the Black Student Union demands and in alignment with WWC’s strategic plan. Mensah works on structurally evaluating and improving WWC’s efforts for DEI on campus.
Brian Liechti ‘15 is the VP for enrollment and marketing and director of sustainability. Similar to other cabinet members, he balances a variety of hats. In his role, he heads admissions, which works with people outside the college, such as prospective students and their families. In addition, he is invested in long-term sustainability of the student experiences and the institution. His multi-layered involvement within the college includes support for the student-led Community Oriented Regeneration Efforts (CORE) Crew. He transferred to Warren Wilson from Ohio State in 2013, got his MBA with a focus on sustainability from Bard college and is the youngest member of the Cabinet.
VP for Advancement currently is a vacant position as Zanne Garland resigned earlier this year. She managed the college’s endowment and relations with alumni, parents and friends of the college in addition to grants, foundations and gift giving, such as to the WWC Fund. Her division also publishes the Owl’s and Spade magazine and shares the president’s annual report with donors.
President Lynn Morton, Ph.D., convenes the weekly Cabinet meeting and also separately meets with each VP. Unlike common assumption, the president is not the sole decision maker. Instead she discusses with the different VPs, who share reports of their departments, in order to arrive at a collective decision.
“It’s not like the president has a stamp … that there is one person deciding all of this,” Smith said. “When in reality it is a lot of things that a Cabinet member has to bring forward from their area but their team has been involved.”
Above the president sits the Board of Trustees of which most members are WWC alumni. Besides playing a key role in hiring a new president, they also meet with the Cabinet three times during one fiscal year. Outside of board meetings, WWC staff, VPs and trustees members meet in their respective committees as needed. Prior to the pandemic, these meetings were held on campus.
Certainly, the numerous different roles can be difficult to understand. To humanize the unspecific term, administration, some Cabinet members have expressed commitment to and encouragement for building more relationships between students and the Cabinet.
“It would be lovely for the students to get to know us personally or just outside of our work context,” Roberts said.
For instance, Roberts has a wife, two children and a Bernese mountain dog, and loves the outdoors. He is also a former ice climber and mountaineer who loves comic books. One of his favorite authors is Neil Gaiman.
Learning more about the Cabinet, the different levels of administration as well as processes and procedures of administration, can help students find appropriate resources more effectively and efficiently. The Warren Wilson website has more information about the leadership structure.
