SERVICE PERSONNEL FOR UNIVERSITY ROBERT M.BOYER University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
TEErecent increases in student loads and research These eight schools also had more modestly equipped activities in many university chemistry departments shops for the use of staff and graduate students. have resulted in increases in needed personnel, services, The other four departments, not having their own facilities, equipment, and administrative procedures. In this regard a survey of the various evolved arrangeTABLE 1 ments used by different departments was planned and Chemistry Department Administrative Assistants made. The chemistrv denartments of 11 universities were visited between l u g & 1, 1954 and July 1, 1955, Schoolc Adminiatrator A ~ e aof responsibility t o gather information for the survey.' A Faculty member Physical plant, services, instruThis article deals with chemistry department perments, teaching and research. B Curator Storeroom, ourchsses, business sonnel and their functions. recofds, dhysieal blant, and Administrative Assistants. The increase in the size 8ePVlCeS. and complexity of the physical and administrative structure of an organization brings on a definite need for more supervision. This added burden in many cases has been shouldered not only by the department heads but also by certain other appointed individuals, C Faculty member Services, storeroom, purchases, with half-time adphysical plant plus teaching The accompanying table summarizes some of the ministrative asduties. various arrangements (see Table 1). ".a.....u.." Assistant to chair- Full time allotted to certain Secretarial a n d ~ l e & a l ~ssistbnts. Employees in man requests of chairmen. the category of secretaries or clerical workers may do Curator Purchases. student accounts., busi~~~a great variety of work in a university chemistry departness matters and records, and some storeroom supervision. ment. It was found that they were involved in plus research-contract report preparation, mimeographing, Faculty member Physical plant, services, ,storeprocessing student-breakage accounts, manuscript prepwith half-time adroom, major supply decmons. aration, checking out books and keys, maintenance ministrative at+ signment of inventory records, preparation of orders for supplies, F None filing, correspondence work, receptionist work, and G Faculty member Physical plant, budget proposals other general duties in connection with academic with assignment and disbursements, acade,mie as executive officer appointments and asmgnrecords and administration. Of course, the amount ments. , ,No central stores reof any one of these duties varied from one institution sponsibllhes. Purchasing, business matters and H Curator to another. records, inventorv records. Shop and Building Service Personnel. Of the 12 storerobm, service"^, physicai departments surveyed, eight had well-equipped machine plant. shops and a t least one full-time machinist and usually plus Faculty member Care and use of instruments. two or three. I n these shops there were definite restricPlans and supervises costly intions on access to the shop facilities, and free entry stallations. was granted usually only to the curator and departK Curator Physioal plant, storeroom, business matters and records, purment head. Other staff members may enter t o discuss chasing, and services. work with machinists duriue s h o ~workine hours. plus
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~
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-
The writer is extremely grateful for the fine cooperation and helpful attitude of ohemistrydepartment officials at the following universities: Yale University, University of Chicago, Indiana. University, University of Mississippi, Rutgers University, Universitv of Michiean. Northwestern Universitv. Massachusetts
L
P X
For the purposes of this paper these schools were given assigned letters far reference purposes. All data used have been sent to the above-mentioned officials prior to the preparation of this article.
=
387
Assistant curator None
Assists curator. One faculty member supervises the use and maintenance of instruments. Faculty member Physical plant and services plus teaching duties. Laboratory manager Physical plant, personnel of offices, demonstrator, equipment maintenance, services, business records and purchases, storeroom.
'Approximate staff and enrollment data are listed in Table 2.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
of permit signed by the research preceptor was needed by graduate students who needed these services. I n one department a drawing of the desired equipment and the needed materials which could be obtained a t chemistry stores had to be furnished the glassblower before work could be started (see Table 2). Analytical Laboratory Services. Routine chemical analysis was a less commonly found service than any of those discussed previously. Only four departments had full-time employees for this work. One of these schools had one half-time employee who did spectrophotometric work for the staff. One department had available the services of an analyst who was not a full-time employee but was paid for each analysis performed. The analytical chemist for one .department also taught the course in semimicro analytical chemistry. One of the departments had not one hut five analysts supervised full-time by one of the professors. This analytical group did analyses for near-by laboratories a t regular prevailing rates (see Table 2). Demonstration Work. Many different arrangements were found to provide for lecture demonstrations. Some arrangments for relieving the lecturer of this work had been worked out in all hut one department. Demonstration facilities and equipment require constant care and proper storage. Without such service teachers may be forced to spend almost prohibitive amounts of time on this work. Some of the individuals employed in this type of work are listed as follows (see Table 2) :
machinist, had access to special machine-shop services elsewhere on the campus in addition t o their own student and staff shops. Some special features and arrangements noted in regard t o personnel in this category are of sufficient interest to be mentioned. One department had the services offered by a well-equipped carpenter shop and a full-time carpenter. Machinists in several departments performed general repair work in the building and even took charge of deliveries of a special nature. Another department had a full-time special apparatus repairman to maintain vacuum pumps, motors, etc. A shop apprentice course taught by a machinist was a prerequisite to admission to the student shop of one department. One department with a large plant had on its staff two full-time electricians and two fulltime plumbers. The full-time services of an employee who repaired furniture and did other miscellaneous work were available to another large department (see Table 2). Glass Shop Services. Six of the 12 departments surveyed had a t least one full-time glassblower and well-equipped glass shops. One other department shared equally with the physics department the services of a full-time glassblower. I n this case separate glass shops were maintained in each department. In another case one glass shop and a full-time glassblower served both the physics and chemistry departments which were housed in one building. Another department had a storekeeper who spent half-time as a glassblower. A still different arrangement was used by one department which had a commercial glassblower come in evenings to do needed work. A total of 10 of the 12 schools had the services of a glassblower in their own shop. Some glassblowing equipment was available to the staff of the other two schools but difficult work had to he done outside. Where glass-shop services were available some type
Wife of chemistry graduate student-three hours per day Graduate students on appointment-12 hours per week Graduate chemist-employed full time for this work
TABLE 2 Chemistry Department Personnel-General School
Total enrollment in ohemiatrv
x&er of maduate students in crhemistry Faculty Storekeepers Glassblowers Machinists Analysts Demonstrators Other
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
K
L
P
X
400
5W
1400
2300
300
725
2500
6W
1000
1600
1100
1300
35 12 1.5" 0.5* 2.
30 20 3 4 2
Whole numbers represent full-time employees or equivalent. Decimals indicate portion of full time devoted to indicated work. Chemistry stores operated as a campus agency. General repairman. General utility man. a Employees who maintain the facilities of the general chemistry laboratories. J Includes chemist for advanced laboratory preparation, bottle washer, cmployce to repackage chemicals, special apparatus repairman, and record inventory clerk. e Licensed engineer to maintain electricsl and plumbing services. h Two electricians, two plumbers, and one carpenter. b
VOLUME 33, NO. 8, AUGUST, 1996
Employees specially trained-employed full time for this work Undergraduate chemistry majors chosen for their scholastic ability-about 30 hours per month
Other SfaffMembers. Storekeeper duties vary from school t o school. Some do limited amounts of repair work in the building in addition to store work. In one case, half of the working hours were spent as the department glassblower. Others do laboratoq- preparation work or demonstration preparation work either of which may involve solution preparation. One department operated a chemical repackaging station requiring the services of a bottle washer and a full-time employee to do the actual repackaging into small units. This department also employs full time a graduate chemist to set out and maintain solutions and equipment for the physical chemistry and analytical chemistry laboratories. The physical plant of one department includes an apartment where the head machinist lives; he has the custody of the building among his responsibilities (see Table 2).
SUMMARY
This survey of 12 schools by no means covers all the types of personnel arrangements and work assignments in chemistry departments. The observations indicate that the following practices are favored: (1) appointment of some type of supervisory assistant, in many cases a special employee and occasionally a faculty member either part or full time; (2) employment of more than one secretary and separate assignments for each; (3) arrangement for someone other than a lecturer to set up and care for demonstration equipment; (4) provision of machine-shop and glass-shop services within the department; (5) employment of one or more storekeepers in cases where chemistry stores are operated as a chemistry-department agency; (6) provision of analytical laboratory services and department employees for specific or general maintenance, a practice found t o a lesser extent. The addition of various staff services is based, of course, on real need. Often the value of a service increases after its acquisition and after some experience in using it. No really excess personnel provisions were observed during this survey.
