Loyola is searching for employees to fill leadership positions across campus.

Five positions need to be filled by new people within one or two years: vice president of enrollment management and associate provost, dean of Humanities and Natural Sciences, dean of Social Sciences, Honors program director and School of Mass Communication director.

Interim directors and deans abound – Lori Zawistowiski, Mary McCay, Alfred Lawrence Lorenz, Constance Mui and Bob Thomas have all been temporarily filling these positions, respectively (Zawistowiski’s title is interim dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management).

The job ad for dean of Humanities and Natural Sciences on sciences.academickeys.com frequently mentions the opportunity to work in New Orleans “through a critical stage of growth/recovery … affording the Dean the opportunity to make a lasting and meaningful impact on the rebirth of the city.”

The opportunity for recovery in New Orleans is a common theme that both Thomas, interim director of the School of Mass Communication and John Sebastian, a member of the search board for enrollment management vice president, mentioned in the search process.

“I want somebody who believes in Loyola,” Sebastian said, “not just someone who wants a promotion.”

Post-Katrina, admissions management is as crucial as ever, he said, and “enrollment management” refers to keeping students as well as recruiting them. . Thomas echoes Sebastian’s hopes.

“We’re looking for leadership,” Thomas said, referring to a new mass communication director. “Someone to represent and build the school within the community – not just an academician.”

Thomas said the School of Mass Communication wants someone who will get involved in the community – not just within Loyola, but also in the city. Without connections and trust, he said, the school can’t get anything done.

Thomas has been the interim director for a year and a half. He said that if they run out of time, he may stay or the school may find someone else while the search continues.

“We’re not just going to hire someone,” he said. “It’s going to be the perfect person.”

The Honors program is also serious about finding the right director. The program’s director and deputy director will only head the program for the rest of the 2009-2010 academic year, and the board will decide soon whether or not to begin a national search. The pool of applicants within the university is usually very small for the Honors program. If the board is serious about a national search, it will have to begin by the end of this semester, Sebastian said.

Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at [email protected].