Jan. 23, 2007 issue
After high school, I was a homemaker and
mother for 15 years. But, since our financial situation changed, I needed
to go to work. I decided to take a few classes at a local community college
to brush up on my typing and learn word processing, since this was the
skill many businesses were looking for. One of my
instructors suggested I might want to apply to EMU.
I started as a temp at the University. I worked in the bookstore,
Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Communities
(ISCFC), National Institute for Consumer Education (NICE),
and Athletics. My last temp position was in the Office
of Research Development (ORD) for three months. Since the
only qualified in-house candidate who applied for the (permanent)
position in ORD turned it down, I was able to apply as
an outside candidate.
As time passed, the focus of my position changed a great deal. When I
first came to the office, my job consisted mostly of typing.
I typed all proposals from handwritten copy, all
transmittals, all budgets and, once a month, the entire
updated proposal log. Today, budgets are done on spreadsheets
and, of course, databases have replaced the proposal log.
My duties now focus mainly on computer-based tasks and
the processing of all grant proposals submitted, which
have increased greatly in number.
The Office of Research Development is a major asset to the University
since research is a vital component of the world we live
in. Improvements
in education, medicine and technology — just to name a
few — are
all in one way or another the result of someone's research.
More faculty and staff are doing research now.
This can be seen by the increase in proposal submissions.
This, in turn, results in ever-growing numbers of funded
projects. Many faculty come to EMU just because of this
office. Knowing that research is supported at EMU attracts
and retains many faculty.
I've always had nice people to work with, and I've always known that
what we do here in ORD is both worthwhile and beneficial to the University
and the larger community. I am proud to have been a part of it all.
I don't plan to be idle in retirement. There are quite a few projects
around the house that are just waiting to be done. I also
would like to take piano lessons again, spend more time
with my family and, at Houghton Lake, where we have a cottage.
So, if you're on the lake one day and you see a slightly
older lady whiz by on a jet ski, it just might be me. Smile,
life is good!
