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This article was downloaded by: [Kungliga Tekniska Hogskola]On: 04 October 2014, At: 09:44Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK
Community College Journal ofResearch and PracticePublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ucjc20
Human Resource Developmentand Personnel in a Post-Katrina/Rita EnvironmentMelanie Henry a , Peter Cho b & Phyllis Dupuis ca Louisiana Technical College, Morgan City ,Louisiana, USAb Delgado Community College, New Orleans ,Louisiana, USAc Louisiana Technical College, Lafayette , Louisiana,USAPublished online: 27 Feb 2008.
To cite this article: Melanie Henry , Peter Cho & Phyllis Dupuis (2008) HumanResource Development and Personnel in a Post-Katrina/Rita Environment,Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32:3, 220-234, DOI:10.1080/10668920701875917
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10668920701875917
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HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND PERSONNELIN A POST-KATRINA/RITA ENVIRONMENT
Melanie Henry
Louisiana Technical College, Morgan City, Louisiana, USA
Peter Cho
Delgado Community College, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Phyllis Dupuis
Louisiana Technical College, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
This article provides a pre- and post-Katrina snapshot of issues in thehuman resource arena with emphasis on resilience, persistence, andthe overwhelming need for effective planning.
Human resource development and personnel in higher educationencompass a myriad of issues that involve intellectual, emotional,and moral dimensions. Included in this topic is the recruitment andretention of faculty. In the state of Louisiana, this topic is particularlytimely within higher education in that many faculty retirements willoccur in a period of time when younger individuals are faced withnumerous vocational choices (McFadden & Penman, 1987). Thechoice of instructing in the higher education arena does not appearto attract many young professionals. The current economic situation
Address correspondence to Melanie Henry, Louisiana Technical College, Young Memorial,
P.O. Drawer 2148, Morgan City, LA 70381-2148, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32: 220–234, 2008
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1066-8926 print/1521-0413 online
DOI: 10.1080/10668920701875917
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in Louisiana further complicates the process of faculty recruitmentand retention in higher education.
ISSUE DEFINED
Prior to the 2005 hurricane season, Louisiana’s faculty recruitmentprocess was one similar to any other in higher education and focusedon the definition of ‘‘acquiring new members of an organization orbody’’ (American Heritage Dictionary, 1982). Retention was also anegligible issue. Faculty and staff often remain to retirement. Usualapproaches to recruitment and retention in higher education havebeen dramatically altered in direct proportion to the 2005 impactof hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Our literature review was purposely limited to recruitment andretention efforts in relation to 2-year community colleges and techni-cal colleges. Our review revealed how important effective recruitmentand retention strategies are to these postsecondary institutions. Theliterature examines how job applicants’ decisions to accept or declinea faculty position are impacted by the following: personal character-istics, gender, job mobility, monetary incentives, employment status,and an applicant’s similarity=dissimilarity with the recruiter orrecruiting institution. With regard to retention, the review identifiesfactors that influence faculty persistence and departure. It alsodescribes the correlation between faculty retention and personalsatisfaction in the 2-year postsecondary environment.
RECRUITMENT
Breaugh (as cited in Winter & Munoz, 2001) defines recruitment asthose organizational activities that influence the number and typesof applicants who apply for a position and impact an applicant’sdecision to accept or decline a job vacancy. The Community CollegeJournal of Research and Practice published a series of reports thatspoke to the connection between faculty recruitment and variousapplicant characteristics. The studies were conducted in a communitycollege setting and involved faculty employed in the businessdepartment. The primary research methods were advertisementsimulations and participant surveys utilizing 5- and 7-point LikertScales (Winter & Munoz, 2001). The following paragraphs providea summary of some of the findings demonstrating the correlationbetween various applicant characteristics and their ratings of afaculty vacancy at a 2-year institution.
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Personal Characteristics
Winter and Munoz (2001) examined the association between appli-cants’ personal characteristics, and job ratings of a business facultyvacancy at a community college. The findings stipulate no significantcorrelation between an applicant’s rating of a business faculty positionwith gender, race, business work experience, job tenure, and satisfac-tion with intrinsic and extrinsic job facets. Applicants’ marital statuscorrelated negatively with applicants’ ratings of a job vacancy, indi-cating that when participants were not married, their attraction tothe job increased; conversely, ratings decreased when participantswere married. The researchers conclude that single professionalsprobably have fewer family responsibilities. Thus, they may be moreattracted to business faculty positions at community colleges thatmay require the individual to either make a career change or accepta lower salary. Hours worked per week correlates positively withapplicants’ ratings of the job, indicating that as hours worked perweek increased, the applicant’s attraction to the job also increased.Winter & Munoz (2001) indicate that about one-fourth of communitycollege faculty members are recruited from the graduate programs of4-year institutions. Furthermore, job experience and a masters degreein the academic discipline were noted as the two most important jobqualifications for community college faculty. For the most part, theresearch postulates that the personal characteristics of job applicantscorrelates positively to an applicant’s reaction to a faculty positionvacancy at a community college. The authors note however, thatextant recruitment theory is not precise enough to suggest which per-sonal characteristics may be important in a specific recruitment con-text.
Gender, Instructional Program, Job Attributes
Another study (Winter, 2000) examined applicants’ attraction to afaculty position vacancy in relation to applicant gender, instructionalprogram (academic transfer, career education, compensatory edu-cation) and job attributes (intrinsic, extrinsic, work context). Theresearch reveals that, in general, experienced male and female profes-sionals are willing to consider a community college faculty position.However, the findings indicate that higher education leaders seekingto attract these individuals are advised not to describe instructionalprograms gratuitously; but should justify existence and viability ofthe programs within the institution. Neither male nor female parti-cipants were inclined to view advertisements describing compensatory
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education or career education programs; but they were attracted tosolicitations emphasizing academic transfer programs. Existingresearch demonstrates it is important to provide detailed informationabout the job. If the goal of recruitment is to attract relatively morefemale applicants, the researchers suggest that advertisements shoulddescribe the faculty job in terms of intrinsic attributes. Likewise, if therecruitment goal is to attract relatively more male applicants, the jobshould be described in terms of extrinsic attributes. If the recruitmentgoal is to recruit from a gender-balanced pool, the job may bedescribed with equal results using both intrinsic and extrinsic or workcontext job attributes (Winter, 2000).
Job Mobility, Recruiter Similarity/Dissimilarity
A study (Winter & Kjorlien, 2000) was conducted that examined theconnection between job mobility and between recruiter similarity=dissimilarity and applicants’ attractiion to a faculty vacancy at a com-munity college. The results of the research indicate that applicantsrated faculty jobs that did not require relocation more favorably thanthey rated solicitations that did require relocation. Both female andmale applicants rated the job most favorably when the recruiterand the applicant shared a similar background and similar educationand careers.
Employment Status
According to Winter (2000), higher education research tends todeemphasize the recruitment of part-time faculty. A national communitycollege system survey reveals that part-time faculty represents 69% of thetotal faculty population (U.S. Department of Education, as cited inWinter & Kjorlien, 2001). Gappa and Leslie (2001) interviewed adminis-trators at colleges across the United States, and their findings reveal the‘‘recruitment of part-timers was ad hoc, primarily initiated by applicantsthemselves or by graduate students and faculty already in the depart-ment’’(p. 253). The participants in this study rate part-time positionssignificantly higher than full-time positions. The researchers suggest thatmore studies conducted in the area of employment status and its impacton an applicant’s rating of a job (Winter & Kjorlien).
Monetary Incentives
Winter & Logsdon (2004) conducted a study in the Kentucky Com-munity and Technical College System (KCTCS) involving the Health
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Occupations department in a technical college. The study examinesthe connection between monetary incentives and applicants’ ratingsand acceptance of a faculty position. The research reveals that offer-ing a salary that is higher than the usual starting salary and an initialsigning bonus for a position vacancy is a recognized method ofenhancing organizational recruitment efforts. Furthermore, theresearchers suggest that it would behoove community and technicalcollege leaders to consider incorporating monetary incentives torecruit health occupations faculty, especially in periods of criticalpersonnel shortage.
Retention
Higher education institutions go through considerable effort andexpense to hire new faculty. Ambrose, Huston, and Norman (2005)indicate that faculty turnover rates vary from approximately2–10% per year at a premier research university. Smaller public insti-tutions and 2-year colleges encounter faculty turnover at a slightlyhigher rate, and turnover rates are higher for women than for men.
In a qualitative study (Ambros et al., 2005) conducted in2002–2003, researchers attempted to gain a richer understanding ofthe circumstances and perceptions impacting faculty decisions to stayor leave and, if staying, contribute or withdraw from their currentacademic community. The study describes commonly cited issuesimpacting faculty satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The issues were clus-tered into seven general categories: salaries; collegiality; mentoring;the reappointment, promotion, and tenure process; department headstatus; city=location=region; and interdisciplinary nature of theinstitution. The research reveals that faculty who departed are justas satisfied as faculty who persisted. For former faculty, 54% ofthe 61 participants said their overall experience was positive and43% expressed that their overall experience was negative. Similarly,53% of the 62 current faculty reported that they were quite satisfiedand planning to stay. Thirty-nine percent concluded that their overallexperience had been negative. Thus, general levels of satisfaction anddissatisfaction proved to be a poor indicator of faculty decisions tostay or leave an institution (Ambrose et al., 2005). One-third of theformer faculty respondents mentioned that their salary at the currentinstitution had not been competitive; however, no participant statedto have left the institution because of low salary. Collegiality was thesingle most frequently cited issue as the reason for satisfaction andpersistence. The presence or absence of collegiality was an issue raisedby 99 of the 123 respondents, making it the most popular topic for
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discussion in the interviews. Effective mentoring emerged as aprimary source of satisfaction in the study; consequently, lack ofmentoring was noted as a source of dissatisfaction that provokeddeparture from an institution. The reappointment, promotion, andtenure (RPT) process stirred more negative responses from currentfaculty than from former faculty. Ten of the 11 current untenuredfaculty members mentioned that they saw problems with the RPTprocess, particularly when they witnessed a colleague who seemedto meet all of the promotion criteria but was nonetheless denied ten-ure or promotion. Twenty of the 42 tenured faculty members werealso skeptical of the RPT process even though the process concludedin their favor. The researchers reveal that ‘‘senior’’ faculty oftenreported that their tenure process had ‘‘left a bad taste in theirmouths.’’ Many felt ‘‘battered’’ by the tenure process, even whenthe outcome was successful. They wished they had received guidanceabout the process. The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the depart-ment head clearly made a critical difference in faculty satisfaction.The research reports that department heads who were fair, consistent,and able to manage conflict increased faculty satisfaction—thusimpacting persistence. None of the participants stated the city=location=region or the surrounding area as the single determiningfactor in their decisions to stay or leave; however, several facultymembers remarked that their spouse’s or partner’s ability or inabilityto find work in the city highly influenced their decision to persist ordepart. For about 33% of current faculty, the interdisciplinary natureof the institution was a compelling source of personal satisfaction.The study did note that all faculty members did not engage in inter-disciplinary work, and a number of the participants did not respondto this interview item (Ambrose et al, 2005).
According to Cohen and Brawer (as cited in Winter & Munoz,2001), the critical task for higher education institutions is to recruitand retain the most qualified faculty members. It is important thatthe administrators of the employment process realize that the mostqualified applicant may not necessarily be the ‘‘best’’ employee forthe institution. For example, technical colleges have traditionallynot employed individuals with a doctorate, masters, or bachelorsdegree to teach in trade and industrial (T&I) programs. A personwith the aforementioned credentials may have the academic back-ground but may not have substantial work experience in a technicalfield such as carpentry, welding, electrician, or air conditioning—skills and experience that are crucial to technical college faculty. Ithas only been within the last few years that technical college facultyteaching in technical areas were required to earn an associate degree.
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Prior to that, a high school diploma, GED, or technical diploma wassufficient for employment—assuming the individual had the workexperience in the discipline as specified by policy and could effectivelyteach the course. Because the historical mission of technical collegesis to ‘‘prepare students for immediate and entry level employment,’’postsecondary academic credentials were not perceived as a vital partof faculty employment. Today, the technical college mission isexpanded to include all workforce and economic development effortsand initiatives; and faculty in T&I programs are required to earn atminimum an associate degree.
Winter and Munoz (2001) indicate that empirical research sur-rounding community college faculty recruitment is important becausechildren of baby boomers are reaching college age—which may resultin a substantial enrollment surge. Furthermore, baby boomer facultyare likely approaching retirement—which will result in increasedpostsecondary education competition for the best qualified personnelfor institutions. Knowledge of the research on recruitment mayinform community college leaders who might use this informationas an integral part of developing recruitment techniques and strate-gies in an effort to attract the ‘‘right’’ faculty for the institution.
AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE: LOUISIANA
Mandel and Merritt (2005) indicate that in an economic expansionthere is a phenomenon whereby the balance of power shifts fromemployers to employees. This scenario currently exists in several com-munities in south Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Laborindicates unemployment in June 2006 in Lafayette parish at 2.3%,in Iberia parish at 3.1%, and in St Mary parish at 3.8% (LouisianaDepartment of Labor Web site, 2007). These are just a few of theparishes that provide a large percentage of skilled labor for the state.Low unemployment rates provide a number of opportunities for jobseekers. This has produced a situation in which employees maychoose to leave their jobs because they are in a position to bargainfor higher wages. Private industry can be responsive to the principlesof supply and demand by offering better wage incentives. Edu-cational institutions are frequently unable to rapidly respond to theeconomic concept of supply and demand by offering wage incentives.This has resulted in a problem in the area of recruitment andretention of faculty in Louisiana Community and Technical CollegeSystem (LCTCS) institutions. These institutions consist of approxi-mately eight regional technical colleges, seven community colleges,and two technical community colleges. A 2006 survey of posted
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Louisiana Technical College (LTC) employment opportunitiesindicates 63 job vacancies (Louisiana Technical College Web site,2006). Some vacancies had been posted for over three months.The need for additional incentives to attract faculty may be at anall time high.
Honawar (2006) describes the efforts of several states to attractqualified teachers by providing access to more affordable housing.In a post Katrina=Rita environment, it appears that this trend willlikely grow especially in impacted areas. The process of addressingand resolving education issues will be fundamental to the recoveryof the area. Drastic times call for drastic measures; therefore, atypicalresponses to the faculty shortage may be necessary.
Another factor compounding the problem of retention is the factthat there will be a sizable ‘‘hole’’ in the labor market due to theretirement of baby boomers. Approximately 6000 jobs will have tobe filled in higher education administration in the United Statesbetween 2004–2014 (Leubsdorf, 2006). Many colleges are alsoexpected to lose large numbers of faculty and staff. A 2005 reportfrom the Annie E Casey Foundation (cited in Leubsdorf, 2006) indi-cates that younger workers are more interested in a balance betweenwork and life than they are in a pension plan. However, the fact thatpeople should be living longer may create a pool of retirees fromwhich to recruit. In Louisiana, as in most states, nontraditionalmethods of recruiting will be needed to find and employ sufficientinstructional personnel in the coming months and years.
Marquez (2006) describes a Gulf Coast environment in whichemployers struggle to find staff to operate businesses. Many buildingshave been repaired after the 2005 hurricanes, but there are insuf-ficient numbers of individuals to operate these establishments. Highereducation is not immune to this scenario. The private and publicsectors are competing for a limited number of qualified employees.Odds are the private sector will garner the greatest number ofrecruits. The financial incentives available to these employees practi-cally guarantee this result.
PERSONNEL ISSUES—HURRICANE KATRINA
Personnel issues within the Louisiana Community and TechnicalCollege System (LCTCS) abound. On March 5, 2007, the authorsinterviewed three officers from Delgado Community College (DCC)human resources (HR) department. Included in the interview werethe interim director of HR, assistant director of HR, and a dataand information specialist for HR. As noted elsewhere in this special
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issue, DCC was one of the higher education institutions most severelydamaged by Katrina and its aftermath.
The three interviewees were asked to comment on contemporarypersonnel issues pertaining to both DCC and LCTCS faculty, staff,and administrators. The officers remarked that answering the questionwould require the discussion of issues through three distinct periods oftime: issues prior to Hurricane Katrina, issues immediately followingthe hurricane, and current ongoing issues. It should be noted that muchof the Southwestern part of the state was affected similarly a fewweeks later by Hurricane Rita. The following are observations on theeducational environment from which these issues developed.
Pre-Katrina Personnel Issues
The three HR officials began the interview by suggesting that themajor issues faced by LCTCS personnel prior to the hurricane weretypical issues that are common to educational institutions and sys-tems. The educational environment at that time was characterizedas a balanced environment. It had processes and procedures thathad been standardized with what the interim director of HR charac-terized as an ‘‘equilibrium of processes.’’
Due to the regularity and normality of the typical schoolenvironment, most personnel were primarily concerned with issuesof equity and compensation. The members of the UNO CurrentIssues in Education Administration Course were asked to rank thefive most important issues when considering employment with aninstitution. Seventy-five percent ranked issues related to equity andcompensation as the most important. These issues included: fundingand job responsibility, fiscal health, and salary (Current Issues ClassSession, March 24, 2007).
Another example of equity was discussed in the DCC HR interview.The three officers described a situation from the recent past thatresulted from a perception that the institutional organizational struc-ture was top-heavy with too many highly-paid administrators. Theformer chancellor attempted to correct this perception by balancingthe number of administrators and faculty, encouraging some senioradministrators to retire and consolidating several positions. Facultydiscontent ensued. The ultimate result from this episode was thatthe chancellor pledged to raise faculty salary levels annually, until theyreflected the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) average.Unanticipated opportunities led the chancellor to another post out-side of the state, leaving a new chancellor with an unfinished agenda.
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The second issue facing LCTCS personnel at this time was that oftenure. Since the LCTCS was newly formed, it did not have a com-prehensive, working policy on tenure. Several schools, includingDCC were formerly under the University of Louisiana system,which had a tenure policy. Many faculty members were hired onthe tenure track in the old system, and they had no mechanism forobtaining tenure in the new system. Although several attempts weremade to address this class of faculty, the situation still has not beenresolved.
The LCTCS describes the parameters for employment of tenuredand nontenured faculty in LCTCS policy #6.016 (Louisiana Com-munity and Technical College System Web site, 2006). Nontenuredfaculties have no assurance of employment, promotion, or tenurevia this policy statement. Employment is at the discretion of the insti-tution. Nontenured faculty may be terminated for cause. Financialshortfall may constitute cause. Tenured faculty may also be termi-nated for cause. Faculty must be extended due process, and the policyprovides for hearings before a committee that includes faculty.
Consideration of tenure is only one factor that directly impacts theretention of faculty. However, in a post-Katrina=Rita environmentretention is a challenge regardless of the faculty’s tenure track. Thecyclical nature of employment in private industry was frequentlythe exception in government and education. The 2005 hurricane sea-son has dramatically altered the human resource environment forLCTCS institutions. The shortage of credentialed faculty and compe-tition with private industry has propelled these institutions to thebrink of crisis (LCTCS HR, personal communication, February 15,2007).
A third issue stems from the practice of appointing student affairsstaff to major administrative positions. While this practice wasunique to Delgado, other LCTCS institutions also dealt with internalreorganization after Hurricane Katrina. Several key positions atDCC were filled by appointing student affairs directors to key admin-istrative positions. Although these persons had experience withleadership in their current positions, they did not have any classroomexperience, nor did they have an understanding of how certainadministrative decisions would affect the daily lives of the facultyand staff.
The faculty perceived this as unfair, especially since there weremany qualified faculty with the credentials and the experience to holdtop administrative positions. The result was discontent in the ranks ofthe faculty, especially when certain budgetary decisions affected thenormal teaching processes.
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Immediate Personnel Issues Post-Katrina
Hurricane Katrina changed the nature and scope of personnel issuesovernight. The first personnel issue was an attempt to establish com-munication with coworkers and their respective schools. Since a vastmajority of all LCTCS personnel in the New Orleans and surround-ing areas were scattered throughout the entire country, there was noimmediate means of communicating.
As the first week after Katrina ended, several temporary, make-shift Web sites were created by individual faculty and staff in orderto communicate. Within the second week, the LCTCS had estab-lished its Web site, which served as a major conduit for the flow ofofficial information. It is interesting to note that a Web site set upby DCC’s Blackboard expert became the main source of currentinformation for the Delgado community.
DCC was able to set up a command center 90 miles northwest inBaton Rouge on the campus of Baton Rouge Community College(BRCC), where all key administrators gathered to discuss the futureof the college. This also became the official center for information aswell as the temporary administration office.
The second immediate issue to surface was faculty compensation.LCTCS decided to keep all faculty and staff on the payroll whiledetermining how to proceed within the context of the disaster. Themajor problem was dispersing the funds to personnel spread through-out the country. LCTCS provided individual schools access to itsfinancial system, allowing individual schools to run their payrollsthrough their system. This continued until the middle of the fall,when the LCTCS board implemented a ‘‘force majeure,’’ or ‘‘act ofgod,’’ policy, which gave institutions the power to restructure theirfinancing and personnel in order to survive a crisis situation.
Personnel Issues during the Recovery Period
The period immediately following the hurricane proved to beextremely challenging for all schools trying to recover and reopen.As a result of the force majeure policy, there were several issues thataffected a majority of personnel. Many of the colleges in the LCTCSsystem were forced to declare financial exigency, a financial emerg-ency, in order to justify the restructuring of the colleges to survivein the Post-Katrina environment. The direct affect to LCTCS person-nel was a series of layoffs, furloughs, and forced retirements.
DCC personnel were placed into several categories: essentialfaculty, staff, and administrators; personnel who would be needed
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in the near future; and personnel that would no longer be needed. Thepersonnel that were classified as essential were kept on the payroll,but they were required to help the college in its recovery and rebuild-ing effort. These personnel were commonly asked to provide assist-ance in areas completely outside their areas of expertise. Otherpersonnel were put on furlough, which meant that they would notbe performing their duties for the college and not be paid, but wouldbe recalled when the need for their skills arose. The remaining person-nel were considered nonessential, and were either given the opport-unity to retire early or were terminated from their positions at thecollege. Even though the first two categories of personnel continuedtheir employment, there was no guarantee that the current environ-ment would continue to support their positions.
General Personnel Issues Post-Katrina
Although many of the affected colleges within the LCTCS systemwere able to reopen, there are still many lingering issues that chal-lenge all personnel. The first and possibly most contentious is the lackof affordable housing in the affected areas. For those persons whoeither lost their houses due to the storm, or rented from landlordswho lost their apartments, the major challenge post-Katrina has beenfinding affordable housing. During the interview, the interim HRdirector indicated that immediately following the storm the averagerent for an apartment or house in the unaffected areas doubled oreven tripled. This prohibited many faculty, staff and administratorsfrom being able to return to the affected areas. Personnel luckyenough to have acquired a Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) trailer still had to find a proper location in order to haveelectricity and sewerage service. Many faculty, staff, and admini-strators were allowed to temporarily occupy FEMA trailers oncampus property at DCC, Southern University at New Orleans,and University of New Orleans.
The lack of available housing impacted LCTCS personnel in otherindirect ways. Many faculty, staff, and administrators found them-selves commuting from as far away as Texas in order to fulfill theirjob obligations. Although personnel were being laid-off, there werestill several key positions in affected schools that have not been filleddue to the lack of housing.
During the rebuilding process, personnel found themselves askedto complete tasks outside of their normal job description in order tohelp colleges reopen. This included staffing phone banks, recruiting
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in area malls, developing online curriculum, and filling in for peersand supervisors at strategic planning meetings.
One of the major issues that personnel were faced with was copingwith loss. A majority of personnel in the affected areas lost theirhomes, cars, personal belongings, and even family members. Thesepersons also had to contend with a working environment that wasphysically unhealthy, economically unstable, with no guarantee ofcontinued employment. To compound these issues, medical care inthe area was extremely primitive, and mental health facilities to helppersons cope with the psychological issues were nonexistent.
Current Personnel Issues
Although many campuses have begun the recovery process and havereturned to some resemblance of normalcy, several continuing issuesplague affected campuses. There are also new issues that will need tobe addressed in the future.
The credibility and validity of records is currently a pressing issue.Due to the destruction of buildings on several campuses, personnelrecords, faculty credentials, student transcripts, and other vitalrecords have been destroyed. Although there is an effort to have allpersonnel provide duplicates of transcripts, certifications, etc., thereare some records that remain ‘‘missing’’ because there are no dupli-cates available for personnel files.
Another recent phenomenon has been a movement by the LCTCSboard to formally link the technical colleges in each region to thecommunity colleges in the same region. This causes a great dealof confusion since there are pending personnel issues regarding jobdefinitions, insurance providers, and differences in culture andexpectations—all of which will need to be addressed.
The need for emergency preparedness training is currently an issueunder consideration at all levels within institutions. Each majordepartment represented on a college’s organizational chart has beenasked to formulate emergency preparedness plans. The plans are toaddress issues of backing up data, communication issues, evacuationplans, security of offices and labs, and alternative course deliveryissues. Faculty in the liberal arts division at Delgado CommunityCollege are being asked to collect student emergency information inorder to contact students during an evacuation. Faculties are alsobeing asked to provide emergency preparedness plans in syllabi anddiscuss the issue with students at the beginning of the semester.
A final personnel issue that promises to affect the LCTCS forseveral more years is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified
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personnel. Due to the lack of housing, high cost of utilities andinsurance, low starting salaries, a substandard living environment,and a shortage of trained personnel in specific occupational areas,schools are finding it extremely difficult to attract new highly-qualified personnel to fill vacant positions. Schools are also findingit very difficult to retain many of its qualified personnel since manyare seeking more stable opportunities elsewhere. The current environ-ment also sustains a different college perspective. When polled, theUNO EDAD 6681 course members were asked to rank the mostimportant characteristics that colleges should look for in personnelduring a time of shortage. These rankings indicated collaboration,organizational structure, passion for teaching, and institutionalresponsibilities as the most important to consider. The focus onstrictly monetary considerations has changed to an increased focuson quality of life issues.
CONCLUSION
With all of the issues faced by schools within the LCTCS system inthe aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it is a tribute to thoseremaining personnel that schools are functioning. Students havereturned to the affected areas in need of the services that colleges pro-vide in order to rebuild their lives. In light of the continuing personnelissues that our colleges face, it seems a monumental task to be able tomeet the needs of our students in a postdisaster environment.
The process of recovery necessitates the application of innovativesolutions to the problems of faculty recruitment and retention. Thesestrategies will require the collective efforts of local, state, and nationaleducators and policymakers. The pooling of resources and ideas isnecessary for LCTCS to emerge a stronger and viable system chargedwith training Louisiana’s workforce.
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