Leslie Moss resigned from her position as Associate Dean for Student Development on Jan. 21. By the end of the spring semester, three key members of Campus Life will have left within six months. Shelley Crisp, Director of the First Year Program, left in December, and Anne Lundquist, Dean for Campus Life, will leave in May.

“These are three unrelated things, but they affect my staff and students,” Lundquist said.

Moss left so her husband could pursue a job opportunity in Colorado as professional golf consultant for Dick’s Sporting Goods. “To ask her to leave was very difficult,” said husband Rich Moss, but “it was just a good time.”

Moss ran orientation projects like CHAOS and Avanti, supervised the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, headed the major spring events surrounding graduation, and addressed general student concerns as they arose.

She worked at Guilford for four and a half years and was promoted three times. Moss retained her most recent position for the last six months.

“She has kind of hit her ceiling,” said Lundquist. “Career-wise, she would have left soon anyway.”

“Obviously, it’s not the greatest time in the semester for me to leave,” said Moss. “I’m not trying to leave the college in a lurch. I’m just stuck.”

Lundquist, on the other hand, thinks it is a decent time for Moss to leave. Because she works heavily on end-of-spring events, “this is the most down time that (Moss’s) job could have had.”

Moss’s workload will be divided among other college employees until a permanent replacement is found. Ernest McCoy, Director of Counseling Services, will cover student concerns. Tammy Alt, an outside consultant, will come in March to coordinate the spring events. Lundquist will manage the rest.

Vance Ricks, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, also joins Campus Life by temporarily replacing Shelley Crisp. “(Crisp) took a lot of time to meet with me,” Ricks said, and “answer my questions about what I was getting myself into.”

Crisp left for the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC) in Decem-ber after five years at Guilford. The CFNC helps prospective students search and pay for higher education.

“For my own personal satisfaction, I needed to move on,” said Crisp. “The work I did at Guilford is going to help me work with the student population and anticipate their questions.” She began her new job on Jan. 18.

Crisp was the point person for first-year students. She worked with Moss on Avanti and CHAOS, as well as FYE and the mentoring program now known as CHAOS Continues. Crisp selected faculty for FYE classes and helped first-years in academic difficulty.

“She developed a special relationship with not only the students but the first-year faculty as well,” said Lundquist. Crisp’s greatest joy was to work with FYE faculty, helping them “re-imagine their roles and reinvigorate their connections to teaching.”

Crisp still has her mind on Guilford. The greatest challenge she left undone was creating an FYE lab. This lab would integrate activities like going to Quaker meetings and taking library tours that FYE faculty must otherwise cover during class.

Crisp believed this would make FYE more “user friendly.” By bridging FYE and CHAOS Continued into a cohesive whole, “there will be one program as opposed to two or three that are satellites to FYE.”

Ricks has taught FYE in the past and serves on the evaluation committee for FYE curricular review. Ricks will not teach this semester so he has extra time to devote to the position. “I’m glad that I could serve in a temporary role until the college hires someone to do this job full time,” Ricks said.

“I think philosophy faculty (members) have always been very supportive of FYE and their needs as they get acclimated to Guilford,” Crisp said.

Crisp sees the three resignations as an opportunity, not a problem: “It’s easier sometimes to do readjustments without continuing personnel.” This is an opportunity to bring in new people who can make positive changes for Campus Life.

Campus Life created a new position when Crisp left, called Coordinator of New Student Programs, for which they are now accepting applications. However the office is waiting for Lundquist’s resignation to replace Moss and Ricks.

“The plan at this moment is that the college will hire the new Dean first and let that Dean hire their Associate Dean,” Lundquist said.

Lundquist has planned to leave since before she knew about the departures of Crisp and Moss., has planned to leave since November, Lundquist, has worked at Guilford since 2002, following a previous stint at Guilford from 1990 to 1998, wants to move west and make an upward career move to a slightly larger institution.

Crisp, Moss and Lundquist share optimism for these changes and feel that students will not notice a significant change. Moss, who leaves for Colorado on Jan. 29, wants to reassure students, staff and faculty; “I don’t foresee any problems.