December 1999

Westphal, Bushey Take on New Roles Linda Westphal will succeed Keith Bushey as he leaves Human Resources to become assistant vice president and chief safety officer for the university. Westphal will assume the role of assistant vice president and chief human resources officer. "We are fortunate to have strong leadership within the Human Resources department, and the university will be well served by Linda Westphal as she takes over the helm," says Maurice Scherrens, senior vice president. There continue to be many opportunities for Human Resources to make a difference at the university, including the areas of change management, employee health, staff development, and recruitment in a tight labor market, Westphal says. "I also hope to expand and improve our support for faculty, both instructional and administrative." Westphal also plans to work on several new state-mandated benefit programs to be implemented early in 2000, along with a proposed new compensation plan for classified staff. In his newly created position, Bushey will supervise environmental health, risk management, and fire safety, initially focusing on the integration of various safety-related functions already being done by numerous individuals across all campuses. "An important part of my job will be to anticipate potential disasters and try to both minimize the likelihood of their occurrence and prepare the university to respond quickly and efficiently if they do occur," he says. "There is a lot of good work already under way, but there are also significant gaps and a lack of coherent safety policies," he says. Bushey will be working closely with University Police, University Life, Housing and Resident Life, and a host of other university departments, as well as local, state, and federal offices, to close those gaps and to develop policies. "We will take a look at how to provide the training and tools needed to ensure a safe environment in which our students, staff, faculty, and visitors can study, work, and play," Bushey says. As Mason continues to expand in terms of institutional complexity and advanced research activities, our safety-related exposure and vulnerability has also increased substantially, says Scherrens. "Bushey will provide the oversight and direction to ensure that we adequately safeguard the personnel and physical resources of the campus," Scherrens says.