PBHA Program Director Resigns

Just three weeks after filling a post left vacant since mid-October, the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) is losing another of its four program directors.

Program Director Monique E. Dixon '86 has resigned, just three weeks after Maria Dominguez was hired to fill another program director vacancy, according to Assistant Dean for Public Service Judith H. Kidd.

PBHA is currently seeking a replacement for Dixon.

According to Program Director Kerry J. McGowan, each of the four program director positions serves the same purpose.

"We serve as advisors to the students who are really the directors of the programs," he said.

Each director advises a quarter of PBHA's approximately 70 organizations on such issues as fundraising, community relations, compliance with state and local regulations, recruiting volunteers for the term time and hiring employees for the summer, McGowan said.

McGowan said Dominguez, a 1994 graduate of the Graduate School of Education, is particularly knowledgeable in areas of risk prevention and education.

"She is not a person who is outside the system [of the Harvard community]," he said. "That's important since we are going to be down one person for a while."

Dixon is leaving to take on planning and community relations responsibilities for YouthBuild Boston, an organization which educates high school dropouts and gives them the opportunity to gain construction experience renovating homes for low-income families.

After serving as a director for 10 years and volunteering for PBHA as an undergraduate, Dixon said she is sad to leave but ready to enter a new stage of her career.

"I feel like I grew up a lot at PBHA as an undergrad--and then I came back--but now I think it's time for us both to move on," she said.

"I've learned much from the different students as, hopefully, I've been able to teach them."

Bryan A. Richards, administrator of the Harvard Public Service Network, said he looks positively upon both staff changes.

"It's always sad when someone goes, but it's good that she's looking for new challenges," Richards said of Dixon.

"It's good testament to the nature of the work that someone stays with it for so long," he added.

Dominguez, Richards said, will be a great addition to PBHA due to her experience with City Year, a volunteer program for 18- to 24-year-olds, and her enthusiasm.

"She has demonstrated throughout her career that she is really dedicated," he said.