After being with the University of Idaho for four years, Laura Hutchinson left her position as Director of Campus Life and Student Conduct. Hutchinson will move on to work as associate dean to campus life at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.
“I’ve worked very, very closely with Laura. She has been fundamentally important to our team,” Dean of Students Bruce Pitman said.
In the short time Hutchinson was here, Pitman said she made a tremendous impact to the university by providing great care to help students and to assist faculty in helping students the best way they possibly can.
“Very specifically, she contributed to the department by bringing very compassionate care and expertise in helping students who were dealing with crisis situations — whether it was a family crisis or a mental health situation,” Pitman said.
He said he feels Hutchinson took great care to be fair to students and find out what outcome was in the student’s best interest. Because she worked at so many different places previously, she brought a wealth of knowledge from those experiences.
“We will miss her humor. We will miss her expertise,” Pitman said. “And for short term, we will be trying to fill her various responsibilities by asking staff people (full-time and part-time) to take parts of what she was doing.”
Pitman said the Dean of Student’s office is fortunate to have Sharon Fritz from the Counseling and Testing Center temporarily fill the position.
The university will initiate a hiring process, but they plan to take time to find someone with a similar set of skills as Hutchinson, Pitman said.
Fritz said she previously worked with Hutchinson on student concerns and issues, orientation and Vandal Fridays.
“The university is missing a great person. She did an awesome job,” Fritz said.
Fritz said she is in the middle of her work transition and is still doing most of her work at the CTC.
Fritz said she was fortunate to have time with Hutchinson before she left to learn what she was doing.
“It’s just a different shift, a different focus. A little hectic trying to manage two different jobs at the same time, and they’re both very busy at this time of year,” she said.
Fritz said she hadn’t thought about making this change until the opportunity presented itself. She said this temporary position feels like a really good compliment to her work at the CTC.
“This is kind of on the other side of the coin, so-to speak,” Fritz said.
She said she is looking forward to seeing the opposite side by working with students of concerns and dealing with safety issues.
“I’m here as an interim just so they can advertise. But this will give them time to do a good search and I think it’s really important,” Fritz said. “This is a key position in the university and I think it’s important that they spend time and actually get someone who will really fit with the job.”