Chief of Staff leaves for Clemson

Max Allen, the UNCW Chief of Staff, will be leaving to work for Clemson starting in June.

Max Allen, the UNCW Chief of Staff, will be leaving to work for Clemson starting in June.

Casey McAnarney | Contributing Writer

UNCW Chief of Staff Max Allen will be leaving the university to assume the Chief of Staff for Clemson on June 1st.

In a statement released by UNCW, Allen said “while I am honored and humbled to become the Chief of Staff at one of the top universities in the country, this is a bittersweet time for me. UNCW has been my home for the past twelve years. It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I will be leaving UNCW at the end of the semester.”

Allen joined UNCW back in 2003 as special assistant to Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo. Before joining UNCW, Allen worked as an executive assistant to the president and the director of university relations for Georgia College and Georgia State University for nine years, and prior to his work in universities, Allen served 17 years as a public affairs officer in the United States Navy.

In the statement from the Chief of Staff himself, Allen discussed how he had watched the university and community flourish and prosper, as well as how he has developed friendships and bonds on and off campus that made it very difficult to leave.

 “Although I am leaving, I will be proudly applauding UNCW and the Wilmington community for all the greatness I’m certain still lies ahead,” Allen said.

When confronting the media and faculty, Interim Chancellor William Sederburg said “in the time I’ve been here, Max has been a devoted advisor to me, and it’s been heartening to see all the ways he champions our university, both on and off campus. He is a cornerstone of the Wilmington community and has served so effectively with a wide variety of university constituents, including faculty, staff, students, donors, alumni, and friends of UNCW.”

Little has been said about Max Allen’s replacement for the Chief of Staff position, but the same can be said in reference to  the replacement of other administrative staff posts at UNCW. This is not the first UNCW administrative official to announce their leave from UNCW this year. Chancellor Gary Miller, Chief Financial Officer Charles Maimone, and Provost Denise Battles have all released statements informing the student body of their departure from the university within the past two semesters.

Besides the Chancellor position, scheduled to be announced this week, little information has been released pertaining to the process of replacing these positions. In recent months, UNCW administrators chose interim replacements Chancellor Sederburg and former East Carolina University Provost Marilyn Sheerer to fill in for Chancellor Miller and Provost Battles respectively. However only selected UNCW staff and constituents know who the permanent hires will be.

 “The process in which they chose the candidates and the identities of the candidates are being kept from the public eye,” said student Hannah Daley. “It’s just crazy because we really don’t know what is going on nor do we know what to expect from our future administrative office.”

This mass exodus of UNCW faculty will mean that anyone who fills these positions at UNCW will be joining a campus currently undergoing many alterations within its structure, programs, and personnel.