Nov. 4, 2008 issue

After working in secretarial/customer service positions for nearly 30 years, I finally found my niche at EMU when I came here eight years ago. I was originally hired as the department secretary for Holman Learning Center, promoted to office supervisor and, five years ago, transferred to Admissions as a customer service specialist.

My job has been the perfect mix of people and paper. I have been responsible for customer service at the front desk and pre-checking international students' documents. Our office strives to provide consistent, accurate assistance and I encourage my staff to assist others as if they are helping themselves on the other side of the counter.

Both offices I have worked in at EMU provide immense satisfaction in helping students achieve their goals. The general environment surrounding the campus is focused on teamwork. All of the individual offices on campus are part of a large EMU team, who all work together for the benefit of the students.

As a result of changing technology, employees at EMU are constantly learning new tasks and that is a strong advantage of being part of this campus. While keeping my international check-in role, I transitioned, this fall, from front desk supervisor to data tech supervisor and provide customer service support to our assistant director of communications.

Oftentimes, in the workplace, individuals may get frustrated because they feel they are wearing too many hats. I feel that I perform many tasks, but wear one hat: "EMU." I love my job, the office I work in and the University I work for. I plan to stay as long as the University will have me. — Contributed by Krystin Jarrell

 

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