Princeton University administrators have created a new department intended to improve services in the areas of event planning, utilization of campus facilities, hospitality options and visitor experiences.
The new Department of University Services will be led by Paul Breitman, who has served as director of the Frist Campus Center and Richardson Auditorium. As director of University Services, he will report to Charles Kalmbach, senior vice president for administration.
The department encompasses six units previously located in separate areas of the University: the Frist Campus Center , Richardson Auditorium and the centralized ticketing operation for campus events, which were in campus life ; and Visitors and Conference Services , Prospect House and Palmer House , which were in facilities . Eric Hamblin will continue in his role as director of Visitors and Conference Services.
"Our vision is that the Department of University Services will be a vehicle to bring together activities which serve the entire campus," Kalmbach said. "We want to make it more convenient and efficient for our internal and external clients."
"Bringing these six units together allows us to start to think and work collaboratively to develop and design organizational structures and practices that will be seamless, streamlined and consistent in order to simplify the process for gaining access and utilizing University resources for both internal and external constituencies," Breitman added. "We hope to maximize resources and efficiencies that will result in quicker response time and increased customer satisfaction."
Kalmbach said he looks forward to working with Breitman and Hamblin. "These two men are highly talented and are leading high-performing staffs," he said.
Breitman joined the Princeton staff in January 2000 as director of the Frist Campus Center. Since the campus center opened in the fall of 2000, centralized ticketing and Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall have been added to his responsibilities.
Breitman came to Princeton from Rutgers University, where he was associate dean for student centers and student activities at Rutgers College. He has more than 30 years of experience in the higher education administration field of student affairs, campus life, auxiliary services and facility management.
Hamblin joined the Visitors and Conference Services staff as assistant director in 1988 after working as a summer employee while a student at Pennsylvania State University. He has been director since 1999, shepherding projects such as the 2000 visit to campus by President Bill Clinton and the 2001 filming of "A Beautiful Mind" at the University. His office also coordinates nearly 150 programs on campus during the summer that attract 10,000 participants.
Breitman said the next year will be a time of transition for the new department, as it seeks to identify how to best meet the needs of the University's diverse clientele. "We will encourage people who are impacted by this change -- our staff and our clients -- to participate in a discussion with us on how best to improve these services and how to better meet, and ultimately exceed, expectations," he said.
"The bottom line is that we intend to provide a superior level of service to our clients in the campus community and in the extended Princeton community," Breitman concluded. "We hope that University Services as a unit will be stronger and more agile than the individual components were able to be."
Contact: Ruth Stevens (609) 258-3601
