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March 18, 2005 > News > News in brief

News in brief

McMasters named new Rec Center director

Big changes are finally afoot at the Rec Center — big changes in administrative titles, that is.

Sid Richardson College Resident Associate Daniel McMasters has been promoted from associate director to director of the Recreation Center, and Tina Villard was promoted from assistant to associate director for intramural and club sports.

Assistant Dean for the Student and Recreation Centers Boyd Beckwith announced the promotions Tuesday.

McMasters said he will retain all his current responsibilities, including the Lifetime Physical Activity Program.

‘In the past, I was the director of the Lifetime Physical Activity Program, I was the director of the Summer Youth Activity Program and basically oversaw all of the programs and operations [of the Rec Center],’ McMasters said. ‘[Beckwith] was in charge of more of the administrative tasks of the department and handled a lot of the budget and the memberships and things like that, and I’ll be picking up a lot of that stuff now.’

Beckwith will continue to be the assistant dean for the Student and Recreation Centers and the director of the Student Center.

Students will see no immediate changes as a result of the administrative reshuffling, Beckwith said.

‘It’s not going to be dramatic,’ Beckwith said. ‘[McMasters is] going to continue to lead the department in a direction we’ve been going — trying to be responsive to as much of the Rice community as we can. He’ll be continuing with what we’ve established as goals.’ Before she was promoted, Villard began taking on additional responsibilities, such as overseeing the Rec Center’s Web site and becoming more involved in marketing, she said. ‘As we move around, the positions will change a little bit, but at this point I’ve already picked up a couple things, like the Web page,’ Villard said. ‘I was doing a lot of the position already, so the promotion was just basically a change of my title.’ Beckwith has planned to delegate responsibility for the Rec Center since he became Rec Center director — in addition to his duties as Student Center director — in 2001. Beckwith will continue to oversee the Rec Center, he said.

‘I’ll still be involved,’ Beckwith said. ‘I’ll still be an ex officio member of the [Recreation Center] Advisory Council, and I’ll still have weekly meetings with [McMasters], but I won’t be as involved as when I split my time 50-50 between the Student and Rec Centers.’

McMasters came to Rice in 1998, and when the Rec Center separated from the Kinesiology Department in 2001, he was promoted from LPAP director to Rec Center associate director for programs.

About a year ago, McMasters was promoted to associate director of the Rec Center. Villard has worked at Rice for five years, serving as assistant director for intramural sports and, for the past two years, as assistant director for intramural and club sports, a job in which she oversaw the department’s summer camps.

Beckwith said the promotions are unrelated to potential plans to build a new Rec Center. In May 2004, the Board of Trustees completed a review of Rice’s varsity athletic program and announced its plans to build a new recreation and convocation center within five years. ‘We’re still hoping [for a new Rec Center], but whether we get a new facility, it’s still the right time for [McMasters] and [Villard],’ Beckwith said.

— Amber Obermeyer

Forman hires former RA as new assistant

Matthew Taylor (Ph.D. ‘92), a former Brown College resident associate, has been hired as the assistant to the dean of undergraduates, a temporary position.

He began his job March 9 and will continue in the position through June 30.

A search committee will convene later this semester to conduct a national search to permanently fill a related position by July 1.

The search committee will include Student Affairs staff, faculty and students. Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said he is in the process of developing a job description and title for the position.

The job requirements are unclear because the role of the dean of undergraduates is still evolving, Forman said. However, Forman said he is certain the position will require involvement in both academics and student affairs.

‘I will not be hiring, for example, someone whose only job is student affairs or whose only job is academic affairs, simply because the mission of this office is to stop viewing these activities as distinct,’ Forman said.

After earning an M.A and Ph.D., Taylor remained at Rice to work in academics and student affairs.

He taught history classes, was Brown RA from 1992-‘96, was assistant director of admissions from 1995-‘97 and was the director of Leadership Rice.

After leaving Rice, Taylor spent seven years at Pomona College as a history professor and dean of student life. While at Pomona, two of his primary responsibilities were overseeing the residence halls and judicial affairs.

Forman said he hired Taylor because of this experience. Although Taylor’s role has not yet been defined, he will primarily handle matters related to student affairs rather than those related to academics.

Taylor will be responsible for examining the residential colleges and the judicial process at Rice by drawing on his Pomona experience and talking to members of the Rice community. He will then report his findings to Forman.

His other responsibilities include day-to-day administrative operations in the Dean of Undergraduates’ Office.

He will attend committee meetings Forman is unable to attend and work with a committee to re-examine the process for selecting college masters.

Forman said he will not become less accessible now that Taylor has been hired.

‘It’s fundamentally important to me that there be no buffer between me and the colleges, or me and the students, or me and Student Affairs in general,’ Forman said. ‘There’s nobody who reported to me who now reports to [Taylor] instead. I do not want to lose touch with any of the ongoing facets of this position, in particular those that directly involve students. Those are the ones that are most important for me to stay involved in.’

Taylor said the job’s short duration will be challenging. He said he must become well-known to students so they will talk to him and help him understand how people feel about aspects of student life.

‘The main thing I want to find out is what is the reality for students at Rice today and what are the principal issues on their minds for student life and academic life,’ Taylor said. Another challenge Taylor will face is reconciling his memory of Rice from his time as a student and as an employee with Rice’s characteristics today, he said. ‘An interesting challenge is that I was here for a long time, so I have a certain memory of Rice, but that was a while ago, so I need to replace that memory with what Rice is like today and not let that get in the way,’ Taylor said.

— Risa Gordon

Hazing forum to be held Tuesday

The Student Association and the Dean of Undergraduates’ Office will jointly sponsor a forum on hazing for students, faculty and staff Tuesday.

A panel of two students and three staff members will make statements and answer questions. The panelists will be SA President-elect James Lloyd, SA President Derrick Matthews, Assistant Dean of Student Judicial Programs Don Ostdiek, Wellness Center Director Emily Page and Associate Director of the Rice Counseling Center Michael Winters.

Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman will moderate the discussion.

President David Leebron will not attend the forum because he will be out of town, Forman said.

The SA planned to hold a hazing forum March 15, but Matthews said he decided to cancel it when he learned Forman was also planning a forum.

Matthews said he thought holding two forums on the same topic would not be worthwhile. ‘Since [Forman] was planning a very similar event and had access to all the speakers, I decided it would be unproductive to duplicate his efforts,’ Matthews said. ‘I’d rather have all the students interested in discussing the issue come to one forum rather than splitting it up.’

Forman said he planned the forum so students could communicate with each other and with administrators about hazing at Rice.

‘I think there’s a lot of miscommunication in all directions,’ Forman said. ‘I don’t think students have gotten a real sense of the diversity of opinions among the student body. I also think there’s a real yearning for more information about the topic.’

Forman said he intends the forum to be the beginning of a series of campus conversations on such topics as Rice culture and how tradition and alcohol play a role in student life. These future forums have not yet been planned, Forman said.

‘I just want to emphasize that the goal is for this to be the beginning of a campus-wide conversation about a broad range of questions,’ Forman said. ‘Recent events have brought into view questions not just about hazing, but also about leadership, both in campus clubs and in a broader sense.’

The forum will be held Tuesday from 7-8 p.m. in Herzstein Hall, Room 210.

— Andrew Bowen

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