To: The Wellesley Community
From: Carolyn Slaboden, Assistant Vice President and Director of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity
Re: Update on Wellesley College Botanic Gardens Staffing
Date: December 8, 2017
I am writing to share an update on staffing plans for the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens (WCBG).
As the College moves forward with major renovations to its Science Center, including the greenhouses, staffing changes will be necessary to enable the Botanic Gardens to support the new educational opportunities that these renovations will provide—and to strengthen the gardens’ role in teaching and scientific research at the College.
We want to reiterate that we value and care about the WCBG staff, who have devoted decades of service supporting our greenhouses, and the College has been carefully considering their contributions and needs throughout this transition.
Although the Independent Maintenance and Service Employees Union is not supporting the College’s decision, all three Union workers in the WCBG will continue to be employed at Wellesley at the same rate of pay, with changes as follows:
- Of the three positions in the WCBG, two will remain within the Union. These positions may be reconfigured in the future (while remaining within the Union), depending on the needs of the Botanic Gardens and the Global Flora project that will open in 2019.
- One Union position in the WCBG will be eliminated due to the changing needs of the greenhouses and science landscape. The individual who held this position has chosen to move into another position at Wellesley and will remain employed at the same rate of pay.
Because there are Union positions at the College that are currently vacant, no Union worker will have to lose employment at Wellesley as a result of these changes.
Additionally, WCBG will begin a search for a Botanical Collections Manager, who will be charged with rebuilding the greenhouse plant collection, developing and managing the plant collections database, and supporting scholarship throughout the Botanic Gardens.
We are grateful to the students, faculty, alumnae, and staff who have shared their thoughts with us throughout this process.
