[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]University of Wisconsin Dean of Students Luoluo Hong carries out a multitude of duties, but she said one of the greatest responsibilities of her office is the need to “put out fires.”

Hong said that on a daily basis, various issues emerge requiring a response from the Dean of Students — whether it be speaking to the media, issuing a statement or calming down a student, parent or faculty member.

“There are a lot of crises or unexpected issues that arise,” Hong said. “I would say a lot of my work is really response-driven.”

Considering that 42,000 students and several thousand employees make up UW’s campus, Hong said a lot of crises always arise.

According to Hong, the November 2004 resignation of Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows and the subsequent dismantling of his position greatly affected her job as dean of students.

“Before [Barrows’ resigning], the Vice Chancellor was the person who convened and brought people together and that’s now my role,” Hong said.

In the wake of the dismantling of Barrows’ position, Hong said the current organization lacks efficiency in administrating student affairs.

“As a campus we probably need to have a real discussion about what we think student affairs is for, how it adds to the university mission, how it can best serve students and how it should be organized,” Hong said.

Hong said she is extremely concerned about the budget situation and believes the reorganization of the student affairs division can allow UW to meet the increasing demands of the student body.

“My feeling is we can probably provide more to students for the same amount of money,” Hong said, requiring her office, with the input of students, to make some difficult decisions. “We’ve got to make some priorities, and students need to help tell us what the priorities are. We can’t just continue to do everything we’ve been doing and then try to take on more.”

Associate Dean of Students Lori Berquam agrees with Hong in her analysis of the need to reform the administration’s organization.

“I think it would be more effective if the units all worked together in collaboration and partnership better,” Berquam said.

Hong added her job can be broken down into four separate responsibilities. First of all, Hong said the Dean of Students needs to be “an advocate to make sure that student needs get met.”

One of the more challenging aspects, Hong said, is that in addition to being an advocate for student needs, she also has a role as an administrator.

According to Hong, there are “numerous student life programs and services that are part of the Dean of Students office,” and she is responsible for their budget issues, staff and hiring.

“Not everyone reports directly to me, but I’m sort of where the buck stops for a lot of those issues,” Hong said.

Hong said another responsibility is building relationships and partnerships as a consultant to the academic side of UW.

The fourth responsibility is public relations, and Hong said she frequently works to build relationships with the public, parents, alumni, high schools, business and local government.

In addition to these job requirements Hong said much of her job is information-driven, and that part of her daily routine is managing the huge amount of data she receives, determining who to pass what information along to and what she needs to respond to directly.