DR. DEBRA L. FITZSIMONS debra.fitzsimons@hawaii.edu EDUCATION December 1994 Doctorate in Education Administrative Policy Studies Specialization: Policy, Planning, and Evaluation Area of focus: Educational Finance 1991 Master of Science in Administration (M.P.A.) Concentration in Public Administration Specialization: Policy Analysis, Planning, And Educational Finance Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA 1988 Bachelor of Arts, Economics The Pennsylvania State University 1979-1980 Course work, Gannon University, Erie, PA 1976-1980 Graduated with Honors Kennedy Catholic High School Sharon, Pennsylvania PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2007-Present Vice Chancellor of Administrative Affairs and Chief Business Officer-University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, Hawaii Recently appointed as Vice Chancellor and Chief Business Officer at University of Hawaii, Hilo, reporting to Chancellor. Responsible for all university business, financial, and administrative affairs functions. 2005-2007 Vice President of Administrative Affairs and Chief Business Officer-Southwestern Community College District, Chula Vista, California Serve as Vice President and Chief Business Officer, reporting to College President/Superintendent. As Vice President, coordinates and directs a wide range of campus administrative and business services in support of the college s vision of a learning centered institution. Within a shared-governance environment, worked with the Board, College President, managers, faculty, staff, and students to build consensus on the most effective way to use the college s resources to support successful student learning. Assisted the college in obtaining more equitable funding formula for allocating state funds to the college, which was a major step in a positive direction to closing the huge gap in $ s/student from the state to the college. Current Operating Budget was approximately $86 million; Special Revenue Funds is $14 million, and remaining Local Bond Funding is $56 million dedicated for college major construction, building, and repairs/renovation projects. Local Prop AA
program is projected to complete all planned capital projects on time and under budget. Total budget responsibility is over $160 million. 2001- Chief Business Officer and Dean of Administrative Services 2005 Grossmont College, El Cajon, California Serve as Chief Business Officer, reporting to College President; Responsible for all college fiscal and business services and provide leadership for administrative and financial departments and staff including Maintenance, Custodial, Grounds, Facilities, Operations, Mail Center, Switchboard, Business & Financial Services, Capital Projects, Printing/Duplicating Services, Cashiering/Bursar, Bookstore, Food Services, Student Activities Window, and Budget/Planning departments. Current Operating Budget was approximately $49 million; Restricted/Grant Budgets total approximately $12 million. Recent Local Bond Measure was successfully passed with $107 million funding for college major construction, building, and repairs/renovation projects. Total budget responsibility was over $175 million. 1998- Executive Director-Financial Affairs Early 2000 Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio Served as chief financial manager at large four year university in Ohio. Provided senior leadership and general oversight for University s Financial Affairs, including maintenance of its fiscal records, budget preparation and monitoring, preparation of financial reports, coordination of business operations with auxiliary enterprises, and reporting to Ohio Board of Regents and OBM. Advised Executive Officers and Board of Trustees on financial issues and business operations. General responsibility for financial and business areas included Accounts Payable, Travel, Investments/Banking, Budget, Bursar, Accounts Receivable, Grants Accounting, Tax, State Fiscal Liaison, Payroll Office, Endowments and Sponsored Programs, and General Accounting. Was responsible for Capital/Plant, Operation, and Maintenance Budgets, financial systems, management and financial analysis, coordination of all external audits, and forecasting. Administrative and functional supervision exercised over more than 50 professional administrative, classified civil service employees, and numerous hourly/intermittent staff. Oversaw current budgets of over $105 million, capital budgets of approximately $8 million, current restricted accounts of $4 million, endowments of $6 million, investments of $24 million, bond debt of $17 million, and loan funds of $2.6 million. Responsible for accounting for state funded capital projects totaling $ 11.5 million each biennium. Responsible for capital campaign funds of over $30 million and served on foundation board of directors. Served as financial advisor to many campus related committees and independent organizations. Total university budget responsibility was over $180 million, excluding the foundation of over $100 million. 1995-1998 University Budget Director/ Associate to the Executive Vice President Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio Served as chief budget manager at large four year university in Ohio. Responsible for preparing, planning and monitoring of all University budgets. Serve as budget and financial advisor to President s staff and budget managers. Analyzed and reported on all budget and financial matters to University constituencies, board of trustees, and external parties such as the Ohio Board of Regents. Served as liaison to state agencies and University s Foundation and as television station and radio media contact for budget and fiscal matters.
1995 Associate to the Executive Vice President 1994 Assistant to the Executive Vice President Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio Served as Assistant and Associate to the Executive Vice President, in a chief of staff capacity; Responsible for numerous projects relating to Business and Finance, Administrative Services, Human Resources, Budget, Computer Services, Purchasing, and Property Acquisition. Managed day-to-day operations of the Vice President s Office. Acted for Executive Vice President on a variety of matters and in numerous meetings. Served on numerous committees and taskforces. Acted as a liaison for Executive Vice President with students, employees, and outside parties. Responsibility level increased considerably within a short time period due to financial expertise. 1991-1994 Graduate Research Assistant and Lilly Endowment Fellowship Pennsylvania Educational Policy Studies (PEPS) Learning Research and Development Center Awarded a nationally competitive fellowship and research opportunity at University of Pittsburgh whose purpose is to prepare selected fellows through courses, research, mentoring, and hands-on projects for professional positions in educational admin. policy, planning, evaluation and research. Was a member of the Pennsylvania Educational Policy Studies Project (PEPS), funded by the Heinz and Pew Foundations. The various areas that PEPS focused on included developing a statewide data base for policy analysis for use in improving a state formula for allocating funds to education, policy analysis of various educational issues (both K- 12 and Higher Education), and policy papers which served useful in development and evaluation of state policy in education. Contributions to the project include educational budget analysis, the development of a state educational indicator system to assist policymakers in their policymaking decisions regarding education, and data analysis of financial and human resource/personnel related data to be used by our project and state policymakers in the understanding of the financial conditions of the school districts in Pennsylvania. Other projects related to higher educational policy and finance issues. Other responsibilities included communicating with government and educational entities, writing reports, proposals, and newsletters and assisting in the development, organization, distribution, and analysis of data and reports. The results of the studies were shared with interested parties across the state, educational professionals, and persons within the university. The primary goal of the fellowship was to improve upon knowledge of topics such as educational finance, program planning, evaluation, information systems, statistics, research methods, and technical writing, as well as gain professional experience in the field through the daily work on the project. Additional experiences have included such things as assisting at professional conferences, workshops, and meetings relevant to the project or with the topic of school finance and educational research and instructing/consulting others on computers and finance. Dissertation Title: Taxpayer Inequity in Pennsylvania Analyzed inequities in the Pennsylvania state funding formula for funding public education (K-12 in the 601 school districts), utilizing newly created state database of finance and tax information. Studied both formula inequities for students and for taxpayers. Developed a new economic indicator, Local Effort (LE), for statistical measurement of the inequity and inclusion into the new state formula. 1992 Budget Analyst/Evaluator University of Pittsburgh 1991 Program Evaluator
Indonesian Integrated Management Program Institute for International Studies in Education 1991-1994 Evaluation Assistant/Data Analyst Pennsylvania Governor's School for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh 1990-1991 Graduate Assistant Master of Science in Administration Program Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA Higher Education Administrative Intern Thiel College, Greenville, PA PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Present Community College Business Officers (CCBO & ACBO) American Educational Research Association (AERA) Special Interest Group: Fiscal Issues/Finance American Educational Finance Association (AEFA) American Evaluation Association (AEA) American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials National Association of College and University Business Officials (NACUBO), (WACUBO), and (EACUBO) California Association of School Business Officers (CASBO) PROFESSIONAL PAPERS Cooley, W. W., George, C., Pomponio, D., Beckford, I., Hendricks, A., & Pliska, A. (October 1992). Educational Indicators for Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, Pa.: Pennsylvania Educational Policy Studies, University of Pittsburgh. Cooley, W. W., & Pomponio, D. L. (March 1993). The Financial Equity Debate. Pittsburgh, Pa: Pennsylvania Educational Policy Studies, University of Pittsburgh.