Student Life at UT will never be the same.

Last week, Vice Chancellor for Student Life Vincent Carilli announced several personnel shifts within the Division of Student Life, assigning supervisory roles within the division to several members of UT administration. Encompassing various departments like Student Services, Sorority and Fraternity Life and RecSports, this large division touches nearly every aspect of the student experience, whether by encouraging university programs or supporting the school’s academic goals.

Among the changes, Maxine Davis, current Dean of Students, was given a new role as assistant vice chancellor for Student Life and will head various health related departments, including the Student Health Center, Office of Disability Services, the Center for Health Education and Wellness, the Student Counseling Center, and Student Conduct and Community Standards.

In addition, Frank Cuevas, executive director of housing, will also garner the title of assistant vice chancellor of Student Life as he takes responsibility for the University Center and RecSports. Melissa Shivers will be named associate vice chancellor of Student Life and Dean of Students and will take charge of a multitude of Student Life offices, including Student Government and Sorority and Fraternity Life.

In an interview with The Daily Beacon, Carilli explained what is in store for Student Life once restructuring plans take effect on June 1.

Daily Beacon: What can the student body expect to see from this recent restructuring?

Vincent Carilli: The thought behind the restructuring really was to try and create an administrative structure that will be more responsive to student needs. We’ve consolidated all of our health-related functions under one senior administrator, and that’s Maxine Davis. Dr. Davis has some technical expertise in what she’s done in the past as the dean with the Office of Disability Services and with Student Conduct, so we’re going to leave that technical expertise with her. Our hope is to have more of a responsive, functional area within the Division of Student Life.

DB: Do you believe these changes will bring more efficiency?

VC: That’s our plan, to improve efficiencies and really to provide some expertise and focus that hopefully will translate into some collaborative efforts amongst some of the departments that Dr. Davis oversees.

DB: Are there any pay raises involved with the restructuring?

VC: For some of them there are some changes in responsibilities so there are some increases. I don’t exactly know what those numbers are. For some of them, they stay the same.

DB: Why was Maxine Davis given her new position?

VC: The issue at hand was trying to find someone who had the expertise to deal with those health-related units. In her role as the Dean of Students, Dean Davis was responsible for students who were in crisis, and because she’s done that for so many years, she clearly has that piece of being the senior administrator responsible for working with a couple of units to make sure students get the resources that they need. Rather than recreating a new position and add more administrative layers and more cost to the organization, we moved her into a role where she could oversee those areas directly.

DB: What’s the difference between the associate and assistant vice chancellor?

VC: Technically they do the same things. I think the only difference may be that in the case of the associate vice chancellor that would typically be the person who’s responsible for representing me if I’m out of town.

DB: How do you expect these changes to affect the vniversity in the next few years?

VC: The first is that we have an organizational structure that is more responsive to the students and the students that we serve. The second is trying to provide the departmental directors for each of the departments in the division to have an immediate supervisor who’s more accessible.

For a full description of changes within Student Life administration, click here.