ASUI approved the creation of a new position, director of finance, at the first ASUI senate meeting of the 2012-2013 year. ASUI President Hannah Davis said she is excited about the new position because it will help ASUI be more financially responsible and transparent.
“Over the summer, I sat down with Debbie Huffman who oversees all of our budgets, and she was very nice and very patient and she explained it all to me,” Davis said. “That’s when I realized we should have someone who specializes in our budget. I’m not a finance major and we have a large budget. It seemed more responsible to hire a fellow vandal who knows what they’re doing than to put the entire responsibility on the ASUI president.”
Davis said she and Huffman discussed the position and agreed it was a good idea. After the possibility was discussed, Davis reached out to the College of Business and Economics for students that might be interested in the position.
“It’s pretty important and we’ve had a few people interested,” Davis said. “I’m ready to see what we come up with.”
Davis said because the position is new, the hired person will define the position and develop duties for the Director of Finance. She hopes future directors will play a role in the student fee audit initiated by former ASUI President Samantha Perez.
Davis said the fee audit — an evaluation of the use of student fee dollars by the departments on campus that receive student fee funding — will not take place this year because it occurred last year. However, she hopes the audit will take place every 3-5 years.
The director of finance position will take the place of an old ASUI executive position, director of academics.
“The director of academics position hasn’t been filled in a couple of years, but there’s still a budget for that person’s salary. That will just change over to the director of finance, so we won’t be spending any extra money,” Davis said.
Applications for the Director of Finance position, as well as all other executive branch positions, are due Friday.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]