Friday Focus: A new year of possibilities
July 10, 2020
— by Julie Queen, vice chancellor for Administrative Services
Although not quite Christmas in July, a new year is upon us. Happy FY21, and the start of our next and quite possibly most challenging fiscal year to date. As we turn the corner from FY20 and close out our books, we also open up a new year of possibilities. The budget climate continues to uncomfortably tighten, yet we continue managing through with the best-laid plans possible in the midst of COVID-19 action steps and diligent preparation for the upcoming UAF accreditation review this fall. The potential for more structural transformation lies ahead, all while we participate in the selection of a new UA president.
This stress has created a new kind of hustle for UAF students, faculty and staff, and means taking care of each other is more important in this time. I recently reviewed some student, faculty and staff survey results which highlighted that feelings of social isolation were more difficult to manage and overcome than was the nearly immediate transition to fully online programming. What an eye-opening message.
Close and regular communications with supervisors were also highlighted, ensuring that employees and students have a support network. How we comfort and care for our students and employees matters a great deal, and showing compassion in our business operations is a theme that needs constant attention. This is hard because cultivating quality relationships takes time, and genuine ones mean we actually do care.
COVID-19 has of course turned the world upside down. It has made otherwise normal channels for celebrating achievements more difficult. I appreciate, and look back fondly on, how much a hearty hand-shake or hug would have conveyed compared to what can be demonstrated via a Zoom call (although I do like using my thumbs-up “reaction” emoji periodically). During this combination of separation and online connectivity, there have been several retirements of long-term and outstanding employees that we didn’t get to celebrate in our traditional ways.
In the Administrative Services area, one such example is Chief Steve Goetz, who retired at the end of May. Chief Goetz started at the UAF Police Department 24 years ago as a patrol officer, after 11 years of service with honor in the U.S. Army. He quickly became a field training officer (training new officers) and later became an investigator working closely with other agencies, to include the statewide Drug Enforcement Unit. He became deputy chief under Chief Mallard in 2014, and in 2016 became chief of the UAF Police Department.
Steve and his wife, Anita, also a proud UAF employee, have four children, all of whom were able to use the UA tuition benefits to attend UAF (go Nooks!). Chief Goetz participated in every fundraiser on campus, to include the Special Olympics, and served his community more broadly through other volunteer activities. As chief he would actively patrol campus, responding to calls for service as a police officer and would even act as a community service officer when needed, by changing a person’s tire or providing a jumpstart. Chief Goetz has my thanks, and the thanks of Chancellor White, for his years of service promoting safety and engagement for and with UAF students and employees. I wish him all the best in his well-earned retirement.
This transition allows our incoming chief, Kathy Catron, to make her mark. Chief Catron has also served UAF for nearly 20 years, and her leadership philosophy is important in this time of social change. Organized efforts to speak out about important topics of diversity, bias, respect and inclusion that may not have been as clear to some as to others who experience discrimination, racism, or inequitable or unjust treatment are part of an expanding social awareness movement. Chief Catron’s philosophy is based on a “guardian style” of policing, which is more of a social perspective that values community partnerships by establishing positive contacts within the community. Police officers are accountable to the public and the community they serve.
As chief, it is Catron’s role to teach each UAF officer and student CSO to value everyone they serve equally by upholding their individual civil rights and by enforcing the laws and our policies fairly and impartially. I invite you to get to know Chief Catron and her team. The team is made up of three student CSOs, five dispatchers, one fiscal/project officer, five sworn officers — including the chief — and one evidence custodian who also serves as a backup dispatcher. The team is on duty 24/7 even with lean staffing, and provides emergency response as well as serves as the information point after-hours for calls across the Fairbanks campus.
The CSO program is unique in that in addition to providing critical services to UAF, such as access to facilities, safety escorts and patrols, the program is also a successful experiential learning opportunity for students who move into the fields of Alaska law enforcement, court service officers, dispatchers and other related justice-system fields. To make an inclusive philosophy successful, it must become actionable.
Chief Catron will be reaching out to take feedback from UAF constituents around the concepts of community oriented policing and what that means to our Nanook Nation. Where can perceptions of policing be improved? How can we better understand and encourage a safe environment for students and employees to flourish by reducing fear, addressing challenges, or building trust?
Please feel free to email me or Chief Catron your thoughts at uaf-police-ask@alaska.edu. She is also happy to meet with your teams in person, in a socially distanced way, or online, to get this conversation started as we approach the fall semester. This is one way Administrative Services is committed to UAF ideals of caring, inclusion, diversity and respect, and I look forward to making for a brighter FY21 as we support each other as part of our “Nanook network” along the way.
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of UAF’s leadership team every week. On occasion, a guest writer is asked to contribute a column.