Kimberlee S. Moran, MSc, RPA, ACUE
Associate Teaching Professor & Director of Forensics
Camden Arts & Sciences
Email: k.moran@camden.rutgers.edu
Kimberlee Sue Moran has been a forensic consultant and educator since 2002. She currently serves as an Associate Teaching Professor in the Rutgers-Camden Department of Chemistry and she directs the graduate program in forensic science. She holds an undergraduate degree in archaeology from Bryn Mawr College and an MSc in forensic archaeological science from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. She helped to launch the JDI Centre for the Forensic Sciences in 2010 and has run an educational organization, Forensic Outreach, since 2004. Her doctoral research is in the field of ancient fingerprints.
Project Sponsor
Mary Beth Daisey
Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs
Camden Campus
Abstract:
Rutgers-Camden has been very successful at attracting talented faculty and staff members. It is home to just over 300 faculty and 600 staff. While faculty positions, specifically the tenure-track, are designed for longevity, it is less common for staff to spend entire careers at the university. Faculty need to build a range of relationships with staff for a range of day-to-day activities. When a staff member leaves, it can be extremely disruptive to the functioning of the overall academic mission. At Rutgers-Camden, staff roles often see high turn-over as well as continuity challenges. On such a small campus with units staffed in the single digits, it can be difficult for staff to see a clear career trajectory. In addition, small offices can become personality-driven which can lead to toxic work environments. The result is the loss of talented staff members to the detriment of the campus community. On the Camden campus, only anecdotal evidence for the loss of staff exists. The factors leading to staff turnover have not been systematically investigated.
This project seeks to gather data on the campus-specific reasons why talented staff leave Rutgers-Camden with the aim of developing strategies for retention and advancement. In addition, this project also aims to collect Rutgers-Camden “success stories” to ascertain commonalities of talented staff who stay and excel. Data collection will consist of an anonymous survey as well as one-on-one interviews with former and current staff, and a selection of unit managers. The expected outcome of this project is an enhanced understanding of the staff experience at Rutgers-Camden and the ability to design data-driven systems of improvement.