The University yesterday added another layer of protection to a central administration which spent much of the spring plagued by reports of disarray and inefficiency.

In the fourth administrative appointment in five months, Jacqueline O'Neill, a former associate vice president, will return to Harvard next week in the newly-created position of staff director for the president and provost.

At one point in April, three of the University's top seven positions were unfilled. The Boston Globe and alumni from across the country were predicting that the turmoil and turnover could hurt Harvard's ambitious $2.1-billion capital campaign.

Now, O'Neill, who served as associate vice president for state and community affairs from 1983 to 1989, will coordinate operations on the first floor of Massachusetts Hall, working primarily with President Neil L. Rudenstine and Provost Albert Carnesale.

O'Neill could help prevent embarrassing blunders like the ones in April. At one point, the University announced that Provost Jerry R. Green would leave his position without first telling the Board of Overseers.

"It's a new position. I'll be trying to make the communication between the [president and provost] go smoothly," O'Neill said last night. "I will organize the flow of information from the president and the provost to the academic council. It's hard to get that all working right."

O'Neill said she will also work to make sure that all correspondence, phone calls and meetings are organized while Rudenstine is away on fundraising trips for the capital campaign.

O'Neill's appointment is part of a staff shuffle in the central administrative offices.

Keul Departing

Elizabeth Keul, administrative assistant to the president, will leave Massachusetts Hall this month and move to the University's development office. Keul will be replaced sometime in the next several weeks, O'Neill said.

"Liz is an institution in Mass Hall," O'Neill said. "I am a tremendous fan of hers. I think [the development office] is a great place for her."

O'Neill began working at Harvard in 1977, as a consultant to the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs. She was assistant to the vice president of government, community and public affairs from 1978 to 1981 and director of community relations from 1981 to 1983.

Since she left the University in 1990, O'Neill has been a member of the Massachusetts Higher Education Committee. She is also on the executive committee of Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of Harvard's teaching hospitals.

O'Neill returned to Harvard in 1991 to coordinate Rudenstine's inauguration.

"I Love working [at Harvard]," she said. "I like Neil very much. I admire him as a person and for what he's trying to achieve."

She said she is also looking forward to working with Carnesale, who was a faculty member at the Kennedy School of Government when she was a student there in the early 1980s.

"He's a terrific choice [for the job of provost] and a great person," O'Neill said. "They're a dynamic duo."

Rudenstine: New Aide Crucial

Rudenstine said O'Neill will be crucial to the success of the capital campaign.

"We are very fortunate to have someone of Jackie O'Neill's exceptional talents and remarkable personal qualities," Rudenstine said in a statement.

"As we move forward with the newly launched campaign, and the implementation of our plans, it will be important to have a chief point of contact to help organize and expedite the increased level of activity," the statement says. "I have every confidence that Jackie O'Neill will excel in this important role."