Rice fills HR director position

Rice
fills HR director position
…………………………………………………………………

BY
B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

Harvard University’s
director of human resources will join the Rice staff this
month as associate vice president for human resources.

Mary Cronin
resigned her position at Harvard in Boston in December and
will arrive at Rice in mid-January. She succeeds Kyle Cav-anaugh,
who left Rice last August.

Retention of
talented staff in a very competitive job market, especially
in such areas as research and technology, is a challenge
in the complex working environment at most universities,
Cronin said, and she does not expect Rice to be an exception.

“Universities
have to be very thoughtful about how they develop faculty
and staff and keep them engaged in the business of the institution,”
she said. “The most important resource in an organization
is the one that leaves every night and comes back the next
day. I respect the fact that people carry knowledge and
apply that knowledge to work. They’re human and they’re
resources, and that’s why we call them ‘human
resources.’

“Listening
to staff, keeping an eye on the work/life balance and helping
to meet the rich opportunities and challenges that a diversity
of students, faculty and staff bring to Rice is important
work for a university human-resource department to carry
out.”

Cronin said
that rapid advances in technology continue to have a strong
impact on the work force. “Work is continually becoming
broader and more complicated, so there is a continuous need
for retraining and exposure to new technology, which can
be helpful to retention of employees,” she said.

The Internet
has dramatically affected the field of human resources too.
“Recruitment via online sources can offer a competitive
advantage to the university,” Cronin said. “Job
postings on a Web site can provide a way to identify people
who are technically savvy and move resumes more quickly
to managers waiting to take a look at job candidates.”
And the Internet can reach potential applicants around the
world.

The university’s
Web site also can serve as a tool for luring passive job
seekers, who might become interested in working at the institution
after seeing what it has to offer online.

Cronin said
she browsed through the Rice Web pages to learn more about
the university before her first visit to the campus.

At Harvard,
Cronin served as chief human resource officer to the president
and other administrative offices to which 1,700 managerial,
professional, technical, clerical, service and trades staff
members reported. She oversaw management of university-wide
programs in employment, training, career development, compensation
and employee assistance. She implemented online recruitment,
application and applicant tracking/reporting. She also launched
a bridge-to-learning and literacy program for Harvard staff
and a three-tier leadership development program for Harvard
managers. Cronin was a member of the team that developed
and built a Harvard-affiliated day care center. She taught
a graduate course in human-resources management for Harvard’s
division of continuing education.

Before becoming
Harvard’s director of human resources in 1997, she
served as assistant dean and director of personnel services
for Harvard Law School for six years. Prior to that she
held management positions at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Department of Personnel Administration in Boston, Enoch
Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, the Internal Revenue Service
in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management/U.S.
Civil Commission/U.S. General Services Administration in
Boston.

It was that latter
job that led to Cronin’s interest in the field of human
resources.

“My very
first job was a management internship in government, and
at the end of the first year we had to pick an occupational
area,” said Cronin, who has a bachelor of arts with
honors in history from Radcliffe College and a master’s
in business administration with honors from Boston University.
“I was undecided, so my boss told me to pick human
resources so I could learn about all the different jobs
that were available and then decide on a career area. That’s
what I did, but I never went on to the second step.”

Cronin said
she is looking forward to getting to know members of the
Rice community. “I want to develop a sense of where
people at the university would like to go and what their
next level of performance can be,” she said.

“We are
extremely fortunate to attract Mary to Rice and to Houston,”
said Dean Currie, vice president for finance and administration.
“She is a real pro who combines the highest standards
with a disarming sense of humor.”