Since the sudden departure of former Dean of Students Maureen Powers earlier this month, the office of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs (VPSA) has undergone a significant reorganization, dividing Powers’ responsibilities between five associate vice provosts.

According to Vice Provost Greg Boardman, the VPSA restructuring will spread the traditional power structure among several different officers under his supervision.

“Historically, the student affairs division has been a flat organization, and it has included a department led by a dean of students with a broad focus and a variety of responsibilities,” Boardman wrote in an email to The Daily. “For the new VPSA, I divided the dean’s area and appointed two highly regarded administrators who have significant experience at Stanford.”

Chris Griffith and Sally Dickson, former associate dean and associate vice provost, respectively, joined three others already under Boardman’s office in the new roles. The vice provost said that he had been considering altering the structure of the VPSA for some time, and that Powers’ recent resignation made his decision easier. He said he believes that the VPSA’s new structure will allow for better cooperation between his office and other divisions of the University.

“We have over 200 staff in the division and a broad representation of programs and services which makes it challenging to come up with just the right structure,” Boardman said.

“Stanford is, at its core, a decentralized institution which depends on communication and collaboration to establish viable partnerships among offices across campus,” he added, responding to concerns about how the restructured VPSA will either centralize or disperse the office’s power.

“To a large extent VPSA is similar, and our work is based on extensive collaboration among staff and offices,” he said. “The new configuration is just as dependent on these networks and, to a certain degree, reflects a consolidation of several offices.”

To fill the new associate vice provost slots created by the reorganization, Griffith, former associate dean and director of the Graduate Life Office, has stepped in to serve as associate vice provost overseeing graduate life, judicial affairs, student activities and student unions.

Dickson, currently the associate vice provost for faculty development, will take on the responsibilities of overseeing a number of offices, including the Career Development Center, the Haas Center for Public Service, the Asian American Activities Center, the Black Community Services Center, El Centro Chicano, the LGBT Community Resources Center, the Native American Cultural Center and the Women’s Community Center.

In their expanded roles, Griffith and Dickson join three current associate vice provosts: Tom Black, associate vice provost for student affairs and university registrar; Ira Friedman, associate vice provost for student affairs and director of Vaden Health Center; and Jennie Nicolayev, associate vice provost for student affairs.

Although the two new staff positions have been created to replace the dean of students, Boardman emphasized that no staff position was eliminated as a result of the VPSA’s restructuring.