NMU Faculty and Staff,

Last semester I shared with the campus that Vice President of Advancement Martha Haynes had informed me of her decision to leave Northern on Nov. 1. As that departure date nears, I want to share with you some transitional measures for the Advancement Division.

I will not be appointing an interim to the position. The savings from not having an interim VP during the transition period will be used to help cover the cost of the upcoming search.

As of Nov. 2, questions and concerns should go to Vince Grout (vgrout@nmu.edu, 227-2627), director of advancement communications, who will route them to the appropriate staff member.

During the transition period, the Alumni and Foundation staff members who currently report directly to Martha will now report to me, and the development officers will be jointly supervised by me and their respective academic deans. This format will help me in gaining a greater understanding about the day-to-day operations of our alumni relations and fundraising efforts. Janet Koski, equal opportunity officer, who has been reporting to Martha will now report to Rhea Dever, Human Resources director.

The NMU Foundation Board has taken the lead in the development of the search process for Martha's replacement, and I want to thank them for their work on that. We are continuing that effort and I will share a more exact timeline and other search details as they are finalized.

President Fritz Erickson