NMC eliminates two officer positions in reorganization

The Northern Marianas College is reorganizing some of its programs and services to cut operational costs, resulting in the elimination of two top positions at the college.

NMC president Sharon Y. Hart told Saipan Tribune yesterday that the positions of chief financial and administrative officer and dean of Community Services have been terminated.

Hart confirmed that chief financial officer Roger Madriaga is no longer connected with the college after the expiration of his limited-term contract.

Hart, in consultation with deans, managers, and governance council at the college, said it was decided that this post will no longer be filled because NMC’s finance and budget office has enough competent staff. Prior to this, the budget officer and finance officials directly reported to the CFAO.

Hart said the deanship post for the Community Services program, more commonly known as COMPASS, was also eliminated.

David J. Attao, who used to occupy that position, was recently named dean for Administration, a newly created position that will oversee the administrative offices including the finance and budget offices, of the college.

NMC has three dean positions—dean of Student Services, dean of Academic Programs, and dean of Administration.

Hart said that programs and services that were previously under COMPASS will be distributed to the three dean positions while some will directly operate under the President’s Office.

She said it is their “ultimate goal” to downsize the college without sacrificing the quality of education and services it provides.

“We now have an equal playing field across the institution because almost all areas in the college really report to the deans except for some offices that are directly under my office,” Hart said.

The Adult Basic Education program, which used to be under COMPASS, has been moved to Academic Services, which Hart said “makes perfect sense.”

The College Research, Extension and Education Service or CREES, she said, will be moved directly to the president’s office, similar to the setup in many other universities and colleges. Meantime, the Community Development Institute under acting director Floyd Masga will function under the dean of Administration.

Hart is confident that this reorganization will result in substantial savings for the college. She could not immediately quantify the saving that will be realized but said the college will continuously assess all programs and services.