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Lori Lamb, the newly hired interim assistant vice chancellor for human resources and labor relations at Connecticut’s state colleges and universities, makes $195,000 a year and lives in Arizona.
Lamb did not have to move to Connecticut to fulfill his duties.
Lamb was hired on January 24 of this year.
“CSCU has recruited Lori Lamb to serve in this interim interim role. She is implementing much-needed changes to our human resources, labor relations and payroll operations,” CSCU Vice President for External Affairs Adam Joseph wrote in an email. Lamb “brings system-level experience from the California State University and Minnesota State University systems.”
“Hire” means that Principal Alan Cheng continues his terrible habit of not using the merit system to hire the most qualified people for high-level positions. Anyone who rises to a top leadership position in a higher education system of 85,000 students should want to do better. Cheng’s disdain for merit-based admissions betrays his views on CSCU and Connecticut State.
When the CSCU Board of Trustees selected Cheng to serve as chancellor in 2021 (he asked last year to change his title to chancellor), search committee member Valerie Cooper, associate dean for finance and administration and search officer at Middlesex Community College The advisory working chairperson’s committee promised the state government, “His qualifications demonstrate his inclusiveness and the staff will appreciate him. I believe that with his diverse background, he is ready to meet the challenges of the CSCU system.”
What Cooper and others involved in the national search from UConn-Stanford did not mention was that their selection would be his personal choice to fill the lucrative position at CSCU.
One brave CSCU official refuses to remain silent. Last year, Nicholas D’Agostino, head of CSCU’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office, sent Cheng a lengthy letter outlining hiring practices that he said violated the institution’s affirmative action policy Behavior. D’Agostino noted that five top appointments were made without a search. They “appear to be contrary to our affirmative action policies, our commitment to fairness and equal employment opportunity, and how we hold others within the system accountable for equal employment opportunity.”
D’Agostino noted that among these abuses, Cheng hired Daniel Anillo and Jessica Puckett. I wrote about their baffling $200,000 salary in February. Internal records uncovered by D’Agostino indicate that Anillo’s promotion was “the result of a recruiting exercise — which does not appear to accurately reflect the deal.”
Still, in 2023, Cheng told D’Agostino in an email, “As we continue to evolve as an organization, I want to assure you that my commitment to EEO will remain unwavering.” Cheng’s behavior was inconsistent.
Last month, Joseph wrote: “Under state law, the CSCU president has the authority to hire employees when necessary.” Brave D’Agostino challenged Cheng’s monarchical instincts, writing: “While the president may wish to hire these individuals , but HR remains responsible for doing so within the confines of policy and law.”
there are more. Former system treasurer Ben Barnes — who served as budget director for eight years under former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy — hired his state budget office colleagues at CSCU Natalie Wagner serves as interim deputy treasurer. No searches were conducted. Wagner now works as an administrative assistant in the Department of Administrative Services, earning $160,000 a year — again outside of the merit system.
Then there’s Lamb, an Arizona native. She was the lead consultant on an $83,655 CSCU human resources policy and structure study completed last year by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. One of the suggestions that is sure to please Cheng is to “establish a search exemption process.” Lamb’s report criticized many aspects of CSCU’s human resources system, noting that there were “many personal management issues – favoritism and nepotism.” A prime minister with an insatiable appetite for nepotism may not be the best person to lead reform.
Lamb’s report was not subtle. “The most critical element to be addressed was leadership in human resources and labor relations — through the creation of an assistant vice president for human resources and labor relations,” she wrote. All was said and done, Lamb got the job, and she Perform this job in Arizona.
This is an old and discredited trick. Hire a consultant who praises his or her job well. “This report is complex,” Lamb wrote. Then, the absolute, most important change is to hire someone who can implement changes that will empower the person who commissioned the reporter. Cheng concluded that none of Connecticut’s 3.6 million residents were qualified for the job.
As D’Agostino wrote of Wagner’s hiring, a high salary “creates a competitive talent pool and provides equal opportunity.” That was true then and it is true now. Cheng isn’t interested in a fair process for a job that pays $195,000 a year. No one in state government will step in for the sake of fairness.
They might as well be in Arizona.
Kevin Rennie can be reached at kfrennie@yahoo.com.
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