Secretary positions at NIU will officially undergo title changes.

According to Steve Cunningham, associate vice president of Administration and Human Resources, changing secretary titles is due to an interest in updating the titles to be more consistent with the complexity and scope of responsibilities associated with secretarial positions throughout the university.

The new titles are office support assistant, office support associate, office support specialist, office manager and office administrator.

“There has been a long-standing interest among the universities and employees appointed to secretarial positions to update the title nomenclature to be more consistent with contemporary office environments and practices,” Cunningham said in an e-mail. “The title of secretary has become somewhat outmoded for employees providing various types of office assistant and administrative professional functions.”

The new title changes were developed by the State Universities Civil Service System, a state agency that coordinates civil service employment rules and regulations across the Illinois Public University sector.

Cunningham said the secretary title changes will be implemented at NIU on April 15.

In addition to individual secretary positions being renamed, NIU’s Secretarial Advisory Council will be renamed to the Administrative Professionals Advisory Council (APAC).