Excerpt from Inside Higher Ed
Like many institutions aiming to better serve student mental health needs, Wright State University in Ohio is redesigning its counseling center. The reimagined center will incorporate more wellness services and partner more closely with the university’s College of Health Education and Human Services, which university leaders hope will lead to shorter wait times for students seeking services, as well as to increased telehealth and after-hours capabilities.
But Robert Rando, Wright State’s longtime director of Counseling and Wellness Services, or CWS, will not be involved in the restructuring. He was told in February that his employment at the university was being terminated, though he was allowed to finish seeing his current patients; he eventually left the institution earlier this month. Rando had worked at Wright State for 24 years; in 2017 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD).
Wright State dean of students Chris Taylor announced Rando’s termination in a one-paragraph email to the Division of Student Affairs staff on Feb. 3.
“I am writing to inform you that Counseling and Wellness Services is undergoing a restructuring that will involve a transition in leadership,” Taylor wrote in the email, which was provided to Inside Higher Ed. The email named two faculty members as interim leaders of CWS, explaining they would hold those positions until the end of the semester.
In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Provost Amy Thompson said that she could not explain why Rando was not being kept on as CWS’s director because it was a personnel issue. She did say, however, that the university is planning a search for the new director.
“That position will actually have a dotted line to our dean of our College of Health Education and Human Services,” she said. “So, that really solidifies that counseling center–academic partnership.”
