Effective July 10, the Division of Academic and Student Affairs removed the department of Health Promotion from Student Health Services due to the need to redistribute financial resources, resulting in one lay-off and the addition of four new positions in other departments.
Justin Hammond, the director of Marketing and Communications for DASA, said the University has limited resources, so DASA decided to try and combine and rearrange positions where it made sense to do so.
“This was simply an opportunity to leverage our strengths and use our funding to address our top priorities,” Hammond said.
Stephanie Sobol, the previous associate director of Health Promotion, was laid-off from her position and the two dietitians previously housed in Health Promotion have been moved to the medical clinic.
The University created four new positions related to health promotion in various departments to fill the gaps created by dissolving the Department of Health Promotion.
One position will be housed within the Department of Student and Community Standards of the Office of Student Conduct to address alcohol and other substance abuse issues.
The Counseling Center will receive two new positions, one to address sexual assault and interpersonal violence prevention and education and the second to provide wellness outreach and education.
Lastly, University Recreation received a new position that will aim to provide leadership across campus with respect to wellness and wellbeing initiatives.
“In regards to the effect the reorganization will have on the operation of Student Health Services, there will be no noticeable changes to the operation,” Hammond said. “Student Health Services will continue to provide high-quality, convenient healthcare that is available to all N.C. State students.”
Some of the tasks originally designated to the department of Health Promotion will now be taken care of in DASA by staff currently in place, according to Hammond.
“We’ll take care of some of the promotion that was happening there, and the rest of it will be dispersed throughout student health,” Hammond said.
Hammond said students won’t see any harmful effects from these changes to student health and will still receive all of the same care and services as before with no noticeable changes to their normal student health routines.
The addition of new positions will provide students with more services regarding personal health and wellness, especially in the critical area of sexual violence and assault counseling, according to Hammond.
“Students will benefit from the changes by having access to more resources dedicated to alcohol and substance abuse, sexual assault and interpersonal violence prevention, and wellness and well-being initiatives, which were all made possible by the reorganization,” Hammond said.
While Hammond said the changes were due to limited financial resources, he said there was no specific instance of budget cuts that caused the need to dissolve the Department of Health Promotion.
“As you know, we do have limited resources with which to provide high-quality healthcare and programming initiatives, Hammond said. “However, these changes were not brought on by any budget cuts to Student Health Services.”
