Director of SALP leaving in July

Tonantzin Oceguera, director of Student Activities and Leadership Programs (SALP) at Portland State, will be leaving PSU to take a job as Assistant Dean of Students at University of California, Riverside on July 31.

She will be replaced by Aimee Shattuck, coordinator of the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) and former SALP office coordinator and student government adviser. Shattuck, who has worked in the WRC since 2000, will be the interim director of SALP until a permanent replacement is chosen sometime over the next year, Oceguera said.

Shattuck will once again advise the Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) in her role as interim director. Oceguera had planned to advise ASPSU after the group’s previous adviser, Natalee Webb, switched roles to became adviser to the Service and Advocacy student groups.

Shattuck will also advise the Student Fee Committee, which allocates over $12 million in student fees to over 100 student groups, including the Vanguard and Athletics. Wendy Endress, the former PSU Dean of Students, advised the committee last year, but left PSU for a position at Evergreen State College in Washington in June of 2007. Oceguera had planned to also advise the Student Fee Committee.

Oceguera’s departure adds to a growing list of vacancies in the PSU Student Affairs department. Both the dean of students and the vice provost of student affairs, the top two positions in the department, are also filled by temporary replacements. PSU has been looking for a permanent vice provost of student affairs for two years.

Shattuck said she was told the interim position would last for about six months, but said she expects to be in the position for close to a year. She said she is excited about working in SALP, but anxious about leaving projects that she is working on with the WRC.

“The WRC is my baby,” Shattuck said, “so it’s hard to think about being away for that long.”

Shattuck is a graduate of the PSU Graduate School of Social Work and received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from San Francisco State University. Bridge Gorrow, who has been a permanent employee at the WRC for a year, will take over for Shattuck as WRC coordinator.