Jackie R. McClain, director of human resources at the University of Kansas, will be recommended to the Board of Regents as the executive director for human resources and affirmative action, to be effective Feb. 15.
In announcing the recommendation, Provost Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr. and Farris W. Womack, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the newly created position has oversight responsibility for three areas that have been separate at the University: academic affairs-personnel, staff personnel, and affirmative action.
Once fully integrated, the office will encompass faculty and staff human resources and affirmative action for approximately 33,000 employees on the U-M’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses.
As director of human resources at the University of Kansas since 1990, McClain has been responsible for all aspects of human resource administration at that university, which has 4,600 employees, 2,100 of whom are in the Kansas civil service system.
At Kansas, McClain conducts labor negotiations with a number of unions and directs the efforts of a staff of 20 who provide service in the areas of classification, wage and salary, recruitment, employee education and training, benefits, policy administration and records. She also coordinates the human resources efforts of approximately 200 human resources-related staff who work within the various departments of the university.
McClain previously worked as director of personnel services, University of Kansas Medical Center, in 1983–90, as director of employee relations/human resources for the city of Lawrence in 1982–83 and as director of affirmative action and staff relations at the University of Missouri-Central Administration in 1979–82.
McClain received a B.S. in zoology from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, in 1969 and a law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1977. Prior to entering the human resources field, McClain worked as program director and director of camping for the Santa Fe Trail Council of Girl Scouts, Kansas City, and as an administrative officer in the Division of Biological Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence.
McClain has served as Midwest Region past chair of the College and University Personnel Association (CUPA) as well as chair of the Great Plains Chapter, past chair-elect of the CUPA Foundation, and vice president for publication and research.
McClain received CUPA’s National Distinguished Service Award and Midwest Regional Achievement Publications Award, both in 1990. She also has been listed in Who’s Who in American Law since 1979 and was selected as an Outstanding Young Woman in America, Kansas, in 1978.
