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 Oliver’s gift: balancing dollars with dreams during tough times
Carolina and N.C. State to partner on temporary staffing
service
Oliver’s gift: balancing dollars with dreams during tough times
Some people grow into their jobs, and eventually grow out of
them when they have mastered the challenge.
Then there are people like Patsy Oliver who, one step at a
time, amassed the experience and acumen necessary to tackle the job that
literally fell into her lap nearly a decade ago. That job is assistant dean for
finance and business operations for the School of Medicine.
It is a big job, and a demanding one, particularly in tough
economic times when there is never enough money to meet the vision of leaders
always eager to do more – both to advance research and extend medical
care to the people of the state.
And she has done it well enough to be recognized with a 2010
C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award.
In their joint nominating letter, William Roper, dean of the
School of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs, along with Kevin
Fitzgerald, executive associate dean for finance and administration, and Etta
Pisano, former vice dean for academic affairs, said Oliver’s “consistently good
nature” was evident as she tackled any issue, no matter its size, scope or
complexity. Department chairs, center directors and business managers alike
shared that view, they added.
Stepping stones
Oliver grew up in Elon and attended Elon University where
she earned degrees in business and accounting in 1982 and 1983, respectively.
Her father worked as an accountant at Western Electric in Burlington, but
Oliver said it was not just her father’s influence that led her into the
profession.
“All the way through school, I was much better at math than
I was in English,” she said. “I was horrible in English.”
She went to work for a bank after graduating but got bored
after only one year and quit to take a job in Carolina’s utilities department
handling the billing for family and student housing. Soon after she arrived,
she was convinced she had made a mistake.
“The first couple of months I was here they were still using
punch cards and paper spreadsheets and I thought, ‘Oh gosh, what have I gotten
myself into,’” Oliver said.
But it was exactly the right job at the time, she said,
because she was still young and not yet set in her opinions about how things
should be done – “except that we needed more computers to streamline some
things.”
It was a small office where everyone had to learn
everything, Oliver said.
She happily obliged.
That first job was the start of a long learning curve, and
she came to realize that working at a university, with its intricate, complex
nature, was exactly where she wanted to be. Each school, each department
operated differently and needed specialized processes to
run smoothly.
Oliver’s second job at Carolina was in what was then the
newly formed controller’s office, which provided financial functions for
students, faculty and staff.
One of the first things she learned was the precise way the
University wrote financial reports. That was not part of her job, but the woman
who wrote the reports was about to go on maternity leave, so Oliver lent a
hand.
Her penchant for pitching in and her pattern of seeking new
and bigger challenges continued from there. In 1992, she stepped into a newly
created position to handle finance in the dean’s office for what is now the
Gillings School of Global Public Health. There she learned from Ernie
Schoenfeld the intricacies of financial management for a school versus central
administration.
She stayed five years, followed by two years working on a
software project for
grant management.
Oliver joined the Department of Medical Administration as a
systems accountant on Jan. 1, 2001. Six months later, she was essentially the
interim assistant dean – with all the responsibilities she still has.
It began when the person who recruited her took a job back
home in Kansas, and three other accounting co-workers took other jobs on
campus. The medical school hired Michele Phillips as the new assistant dean, and
she established a supportive environment that allowed Oliver to work on such
projects as the EPA Web.
Oliver said Phillips proved to be a valuable mentor and
challenged everyone in the office to look for and understand the value of each
process they performed.
When Phillips was promoted to associate dean, Oliver became
assistant dean. And when Phillips took a position at Wake Forest University,
Pisano asked Oliver to take on the duties of both positions.
The prospect of taking on this challenge was not as daunting
as one might imagine, partly because Oliver knew most of what it entailed.
Fortunately, she said, she had David Perry, then senior associate dean of the
medical school, to turn to for help in what she did not know.
More than just numbers
During the quarter-century Oliver has been at Carolina, she
has learned that accounting is far more than simply adding numbers. It is also
about figuring out how to make a system or process better. There is no one
right way to do something, she said, but there are always smarter, more
efficient ways.
In her current role, Oliver provides leadership and
consultation in fiscal matters, handles financial accounting functions and
implements cash management procedures so funds are available for capital
projects and ongoing operating needs.
She keeps a school balance sheet and budget forecast that
seeks to match the aspirations of academic leaders with available resources. At
times, that means setting limits that force administrators to make hard choices
when money is short.
“I think what I like about my job most of all is the sense
that I am really helping,” Oliver said. “Faculty members are very good at
juggling all the demands placed on them – teaching, research and
patient care.
“But generally they do not have time for administrative
tasks, and University finance is not their strength. I like to think that a big
part of what I do is helping them with administrative and financial matters so
they can do all the incredible things that I cannot do.”
Carolina and N.C. State to partner on temporary staffing
service
The University will collaborate with N.C. State University
to expand N.C. State’s internal temporary staffing function as a shared service
for both institutions. This will provide a campus-based solution for
departments searching for temporary staffing assistance.
“Since the unfortunate closure of Tar Heel Temps earlier
this year, we have been searching for the best method to provide high-value,
low-cost temporary staffing services to our campus community,” said Brenda
Richardson Malone, vice chancellor for human resources.
“This partnership with N.C. State’s already-established,
successful temporary staffing function offers many benefits, including higher
education/research experience, knowledge of state government policies and
requirements, and cost-effectiveness for our campus.”
N.C. State’s University Targeted Staffing (UTS) unit
has provided temporary staffing services for its campus since the 1980s.
“One of the primary drivers for this partnership was to
enhance administrative efficiency and effectiveness for both institutions,”
Malone said. “UTS will establish a dedicated presence on our campus expressly
to serve the needs of
UNC-Chapel Hill customers, in addition to its existing office at N.C. State.”
UTS provides temporary personnel in a variety of occupations
to fill temporary staffing needs caused by position vacancies, special
projects, short-term or seasonal needs, surges in workload, emergencies and
leave of absences.
UTS handles administrative services on behalf of hiring
departments including recruitment, candidate screening, interviewing, reference
and background checking, employment eligibility verifications, orientation,
payroll processing, employee counseling, performance feedback, separation and
unemployment claim administration.
“Through this partnership that allows our campus to take
advantage of the existing temporary staffing service at N.C. State, both
campuses will enhance administrative efficiency and can take advantage of
access to great candidates across the entire Triangle region,” Malone said.
Departments at Carolina should be able to begin taking
advantage of UTS’s services in the next few weeks, she said. Additional
information will be provided on the Office of Human Resources website,
hr.unc.edu/index.htm, later this month about procedures and processes
departments
should follow. In the meantime, departments can contact Julie Ellis, Carolina's UTS manager, at 843-7760.
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