Faculty and staff met in the Oviatt Library, Wednesday for a workshop discussing how to effectively adapt and deal with change within the workplace.

The workshop, titled ‘Managing Change in Your World ‘mdash; The Elements of Success,’ was hosted by CSUN’s Human Resources department. According to Senior Director of Administration Ben Quillian, this event was primarily focused on the role of the leader and adapting to change. The workshop had representatives from other departments such as the Office of the President, the Center on Disabilities and several others.

Along with Quillian, Joyce Feucht-Haviar, dean of the Tseng College of Extended Learning, was also a presenter at the event.

The workshop started with a series of questions presented to the faculty and staff on how they have made major changes within their departments and how they have adapted to those changes.

‘It is very helpful to hear about examples of change when learning how to deal with change,’ said Quillian.’

‘It’s a broken process,’ said Quillian, referring to the process of change.

‘The process you currently have may not be meeting the expectation of the people you are serving,’ said Quillian.’

Feucht-Haviar discussed the importance of change within higher education.

‘It’s very easy to fall behind the reality of what is going on in higher education,’ said Feucht-Haviar.

‘The university has long presented itself as close and cheap. It is more important that Northridge makes itself the type of institution that people want to come to from further and further distances to achieve higher education.’

‘It is important to take a real assessment of where you are before implementing change,’ said Quillian.

Using examples of her experiences, Feucht-Haviar discussed how change within a department can be hard to take in.

‘I went into the position expecting to be hated for the first three years,’ said Feucht-Haviar.
‘I redefined every position in the college. It created intentional chaos, but if I had not done so, we would have been stuck in old assumptions and situations.’

The workshop was seen as very helpful and informative to the staff and faculty present.
‘It was content rich and had a lot of good strategies on managing change effectively,’ said Wendy Phelps, Professor of Recreation and Tourism Management, who was present to gather more information for a program she is planning.

‘Its helps me be a more effective speaker and teacher,’ said Phelps.’

The event was meant to help prepare the departments on campus for change.

‘The university is made up of the choices people make today… The university’s tomorrow is made by us today,’ said Feucht-Haviar.