By Abby Black
After over a year of in and out interim directors, the Office of Financial Aid finally has a permanent director. The position, which was last occupied by Herald Johnson is now held by former Clark College financial aid office veteran Janet Turner.
Vice President for Financial Affairs, Denis Ransmeier said he has high hopes for stability in the office is strong. He has faith that Turner's experience at Clark College brings many qualities to the table. Her work at the community college will be an asset to the University.
"I am looking forward to future goals," Turner said. "Some of those goals include finding new ways to incorporate technology into our process for better automation."
Turner comes from an office that uses document imaging and auto-packaging of financial aid awards. Turner hopes to incorporate her experiences with the document imaging to UP.
"These are ideas the staff has already been looking at here at UP and we'll continue to analyze the cost effectiveness of these ideas to see if they are feasible for incorporation into the awarding process," said Turner.
The office has struggled over the past year because it has not had permanent leadership. Confusion ensued in late July and early August last year when students received their bills via e-mail before receiving their full awards.
"I didn't receive my full scholarship this last summer," junior Natalie Hemphill said. A scholarship athlete on the women's cross country team, Hemphill thought her incomplete scholarship was a problem in the Athletic Department. However, after speaking with her head coach and calling the Financial Aid office, Hemphill learned there was a disconnect in the Financial Aid office.
"They said my scholarship hadn't gone through yet," Hemphill said. "But they assured me that it'd be there by the time I got to school."
Although the office sorted out this fall's scholarship issues, Ransmeier noted that the turbulent economy is another financial barrier the office must overcome. The office is working hard to ensure that the scholarship issue process will ensue with ease.
"We are concerned that some of our families may be feeling financially stressed in the current economy and we offer the Financial Aid office as a resource for those who may have unusual circumstances due to economic reasons," Turner said.
Turner believes that UP is a financially stable institution and that ways to decease spending and increase cost effectiveness will continue.
?Amie Dahnke contributed to this article
