The former Student Center Programs Coordinator Brandon Carta left his position at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, and as Keene State starts its spring semester there is still no one filling the role.
In a previous Equinox article on Carta’s leaving, Jessica Gagne Cloutier, director of student involvement, stated the Office of Student Involvement hoped to post the open position at the start of September and have it filled as soon as possible. However, as of Jan. 24, there doesn’t appear to be anyone lined up to take up the position.
This absence has meant that Gagne Cloutier and Senior Coordinator of Student Involvement and Well-being Emily Alexander have both been taking on Carta’s former duties.
“It’s been a really busy fall semester so our office, being down a professional staff member, has felt that a little bit,” said Alexander. “But between all of our team members, between Jessica Gagne Cloutier and myself … everybody’s kind of pitching in to make sure students and organizations and clubs on campus are feeling supported.”
“There’s definitely some additional things, in terms of planning different traditions and advising some clubs like [the Social Activities Council], that have been a new addition to my position while we’re searching for someone,” added Alexander. “But it’s all going very well.”
Gagne Cloutier also commented on the extra responsibilities in an email statement.
“Taking on the extra workload has been an adjustment, and certainly Emily [Alexander] and I are busier than usual,” wrote Gagne Cloutier. “As a department I think we’ve been able to minimize disruptions to students and student organizations.”
Nathalie Houder, vice president for finance and administration, commented on the process of hiring new KSC staff.
“Any position on campus goes through that department first to say, ‘What do we need? When do we need it?’” said Houder. “We’re going to propose we backfill the position because somebody has left the institution. Any position like that still comes to cabinet.”
Houder continued, “Sometimes we have search committees, depending on what the position is, and other times the hiring manager with others will conduct interviews.”
Houder also said that she has not been personally involved with the hiring process for student center programs coordinator; however the cabinet did approve a replacement for the position.
She also said that, while the job search has been going on for around three months, that is not an unusual amount of time, especially given the recent holiday season.
“I would say that’s pretty reasonable,” said Houder. “From my perspective this isn’t an incredibly long period of time.”
“I would say there are the right people attending to making sure that the position is filled and evaluating next steps,” continued Houder.
Ashleigh Moroni, president of KSC’s Social Activities Council, declined to comment.
Gagne Cloutier also commented on the status of the student center programs coordinator position.
“We had hoped to fill the position in the fall but were unsuccessful in doing so,” she stated. “We’re currently making an adjustment to the education requirements for the position and plan to repost it in mid to late February.”
Gagne Cloutier also stated that if the position was still open into the 2025-2026 academic year there would need to be several adjustments to avoid overworking student involvement staff. These adjustments might include hiring more student employees and restructuring the calendar of events to allow staff some downtime.
“The goal would be to continue to find efficiencies that don’t result in disruptions to the student experience,” continued Gagne Cloutier.
She also encouraged students to reach out with any questions about the open position and to help spread the word that KSC is hiring once the position is reposted.
Orion Corbin can be contacted at
