Jennifer Chambers-Taube left her role as vice chancellor of finance, operations and enrollment at WSU Vancouver on Aug. 29. She had been at the Vancouver campus for over 3 years and oversaw the budget for this year before her departure.
Chambers-Taube left due to concerns over changes happening to the WSU system. These changes include President Cantwell’s approach to increasing efficiency among campuses, which involves centralizing resources while diminishing Chambers-Taube’s role at WSU Vancouver.
An example of such was the centralization of the three-person Human Resources team on the Vancouver campus. This team, which initially reported to Chambers-Taube, was moved to the purview of the WSU system, allowing for employee focus to be distributed based on the needs of each campus.
“Our campus has lost enrollment and positions, so we are smaller,” Chambers-Taube said. “If we are smaller, do we need three HR staff when someone else could be growing?”
These changes led her to believe the career she wanted at WSU no longer seemed to be the direction it was going.
“If my current workplace is not supporting those aspirations, I am going to go somewhere else that does,” she said.
When Chambers-Taube began considering leaving WSU Vancouver, she leveraged her connections in higher education to secure a position at executive search and advisory firm WittKieffer through their interim talent network. She will be filling in at other universities and colleges that lack finance and operations specialists. Her first placement will be at Oregon State University, where she will serve as the deputy chief financial officer.
Damien Sinnott, WSU Tri-Cities vice chancellor of finance and administration, will be serving as the interim vice chancellor of finance and operations at WSU Vancouver in Chambers-Taube’s place. Interim WSU Vancouver Chancellor Sandra Haynes has not yet announced who will be taking over the enrollment management part of Chambers-Taube’s role.
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Good for her.
In the four years I spent at WSU (2021-2025), I never saw recovery from the COVID lockdown, and watched as Pullman gutted Vancouver resources. Employee and staff turnover are so high that students do not receive the support that they need, ultimately affecting retention. Why is turnover so high? Lack of support, lack of funding, and hostile work environments. As a (now former) student, I’m not surprised to see professionals like Chambers-Taube leave, and it doesn’t end with her.