The Justice

Fran Drolette, the current vice president of Budget and Planning, has been appointed to the position of vice president and chief financial officer and University treasurer, according to an e-mail sent this Tuesday to the University faculty and staff by Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Apfel.

The responsibilities of the vice president and chief financial officer and University treasurer include overseeing the treasury, controls and accounting, financial services and financial systems areas, wrote Drolette in an e-mail to the Justice.

Drolette wrote that she had enjoyed serving as acting vice president of financial affairs and was particularly interested in the consolidation of that position with vice president of Budget and Planning.

"Since the change seemed right for the University and right for me, I hoped that that we would stay on this path," she wrote.

Drolette has been serving as acting vice president for finance and University treasurer since the former vice president for financial affairs, Maureen Murphy, left the position last September.

According to Apfel's e-mail to the faculty, Drolette will also continue in her current position as vice president of budget and planning. Apfel explained in an e-mail to the Justice that the consolidation of these two positions was quite common in higher education and that he believed Drolette was capable of handling these dual responsibilities.

"I was particularly pleased with the idea of facilitating a change that would consolidate the budget and financial affairs function at a time when we, like so many other colleges and universities, are facing great financial challenges," Drolette wrote.

Drolette wrote in her e-mail that she had been speaking with Apfel about continuing in the position of vice president of Financial Affairs and that Apfel had spoken with her about an official promotion "a couple of weeks" ago.

Drolette said she plans on increasing the integration of the budget and financial staff members, which she and Murphy had been working on previously.

"Since the financial and budget staff is engaged at many levels, and with many people throughout the University, another important effort is to reinforce their important role in supporting the core work of the University with timely, accurate, and meaningful financial information and sound processes," she wrote.

Apfel wrote that the general response to Drolette's promotion has been one of extreme enthusiasm, which he said is unusual for a financial administrative position.

"That's a tribute to Fran's smarts, integrity and ability to communicate," Apfel wrote.

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