AU PRESIDENT’S CABINET

The primary function of a university cabinet is to recommend and review principles, policies, and rules of university-wide significance. The president seeks the advice of this senior leadership team on issues of university direction, policy, and planning, including, but not limited to: long-range planning for faculty and academic program development; strategic planning on financial, facilities, and fundraising matters; faculty and student affairs; and personnel policies and other matters as appropriate or necessary.

Assumption’s president, Greg Weiner, Ph.D., assembled a new cabinet and serves as its chair. The membership includes the provost and vice president for academic affairs, vice president for mission, vice president for finance and administration, vice president of enrollment management, vice president for University advancement, vice president for student affairs, general counsel and vice president for strategy, vice president for student success, and chief marketing officer.

When asked how he went about building his team, President Weiner — in his signature humble and humorous style — answered, “One of me is enough!” He went on to explain his plan to surround himself with people who have genuine differences of perspective, providing healthy debate but with a common commitment to the mission of the University. As cabinet chair, he purposefully facilitates disagreement in order to elicit challenging views.

Most of the current cabinet members are relatively new to Assumption and/or their positions.

“I think the personal and professional chemistry is terrific,” says Weiner. “It’s a team of people who support one another and try to lift each other up.”

Aside from sharing information, the cabinet focuses on their time together as forward-looking and strategic. Reflecting on their first cabinet retreat in May, he remembers noticing that, despite how shallow and new their personal relationships were so early on, there was a “profoundly deep and immediate connection to the educational enterprise as we are trying to conduct it here.”

In developing a new strategic plan, the cabinet has made a concerted effort to use existing governance structures instead of creating extra committees. This puts more of a burden on these leaders, but they are up to the challenge and are cultivating the same spirit of constructive and open dialogue within their divisions as they practice in cabinet meetings.