UCF’s mission to be a leading 21st-century university means we must value our employees’ talents and provide opportunities for career growth.

That’s why UCF Human Resources launched a classification and compensation project in 2016 to evaluate and restructure several thousand A&P and USPS positions. The results were delivered to about 3,500 staff members late last month through updated job titles and pay grades.

No one’s salary will be reduced because of this project. However, the results indicated that some of our A&P and USPS colleagues are being paid below comparable market rates.

It’s our job to fix that.

Earlier this week, I asked Provost Elizabeth A. Dooley, alongside Interim Vice President for Administration Misty Shepherd, to work with our deans and vice presidents to develop a plan to fund the salary increases. This plan will include timelines for awarding increases and also how UCF could offset any budgetary impacts on our colleges and departments.

Experience at other schools has shown us implementing institution-wide salary adjustments can take up to five years. But at UCF, I know we can do better than that. And we will.

Every UCF employee deserves to be fairly and competitively compensated. More updates on the salary adjustment plan will be shared after Provost Dooley and our leadership develop a timeline.

Interim Leadership

No decisions have been made about the next steps in a presidential search. Our Board of Trustees will lead that search, and once plans and a timeline are developed I will share that with you.

We have, however, launched national searches for two long-term interim positions: chief financial officer and chief operations officer. Both of these positions were created last year to provide checks and balances between UCF’s finances and facilities leadership.

My goal is to have these hires begin at UCF as soon as possible. Until then, Vice President Shepherd will continue as interim chief operations officer.

Last week, Kathy Mitchell stepped down as our interim chief financial officer and returned to University Audit. Kathy worked tirelessly for UCF, and I sincerely thank her for her extraordinary efforts.

Until a long-term interim CFO is found, retired Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., who was hired in January to lead change in our administration and finance operations, will serve in that position.

We are evaluating the search process and timelines for other key positions, including Chief Accountability Officer.

Additionally, because of the recent presidential transition, we have paused the search for a Vice President for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. I remain absolutely committed to our strong focus in this area and will be working with Provost Dooley and others across campus on next steps with this position and its portfolio.

There’s no doubt that transitions like this can be difficult. But UCF’s future is bright because of the work you are doing every day to make meaningful change through your service to our students or following your intellectual passions.

I’ll leave you with two stories that made me smile this past week: one about our incredible 2019 Women’s History Month awardees and the other about our civically engaged students.

This is the UCF I am honored to lead … because together, we Charge On!

Thad Seymour, UCF interim president