Staff Spotlight: Midge Elkins and Cherie Burkheiser
Midge Elkins
Give us a brief overview of yourself and your job title:
My name is Midge Elkins and I am a gift processor here at EMU Foundation. I came to EMU Foundation in June of 2010 and I will be celebrating my 12th year at EMU Foundation this year! My husband Steve and I just celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary; we have two adult children Candice (Matthew) and Mark (Christy), and our granddaughter Norah is a shining light in our lives.
How has your work/life changed now that we are working remotely:
I started working hybrid in March of 2020. Due to the nature of my job, I now come to campus 3 days a week. On my way in I pick up the mail from the PO Box. I’m grateful the Foundation has provided us with the tools to safely work from home.
Can you share a little bit about your "day in the life"?
My favorite part of my job is having enough variety to keep things interesting. My day usually starts at 8:00 am with coffee. I boot up my laptop, review emails, open mail, copy, batch, and deposit checks. I research the gifts and add information for gift entry into our database. For WEMU gifts the reports need to be uploaded and batched for RE entry. I review the tribute information before passing it along for mailing. Once I’m done with my Gift Processing duties, I help Data Integrity with data cleanup.
Cherie Burkheiser
Give us a brief overview of yourself and your job title
I’m Cherie Burkheiser, the Gift Processing Coordinator here at the Foundation since April of 2010. I am an EMU alumna, graduating from the College of Business with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting Information Systems. I started my career with EMU in 2006 when I started working in EMU’s Business and Finance department as one of their Grant Accountants. I then moved into General Accounting. When I was in General Accounting, one of my responsibilities was to maintain and monitor the Development funds on EMU’s end.
How has your work/life changed now that we are working remotely
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was classified as an essential employee of the Foundation. This afforded me access to campus and my office during the entire pandemic. I have been working remotely approximately 80-90% of the time. In the beginning, I felt like I was relearning my job as I had to find new ways to complete many of the tasks that I do while working at my kitchen table. I feel like I’ve adapted well, including graduating to a dedicated desk and workspace in my home, and I rather enjoy my current work arrangement. In many ways, I feel like the pandemic forced some changes that made things more efficient, such as the need for more things to be available digitally vs. paper. But in other ways, some things are less efficient, such as trying to pass work between co-workers that can’t be done virtually.
What is your favorite part about your job
What I like most about my job is the wide range of activities that I do. I don’t spend my days doing the same task all the time. In general, I feel like there’s a good balance of planned and expected activities vs activities that keep life interesting.
Can you share a little bit about your "day in the life"?
I start my day by turning on my computer and starting the boot-up process, generally, between 7:30 and 8 am. While it boots up, I’ll take my dogs outside for a quick walk and then start my morning tea. I check emails and print out necessary gift documentation for the day until it’s time for my son to go to school. We all get ready (him, me, and the dogs) and walk to the school together. While he’s technically old enough to walk by himself, it’s become a good bonding experience for us and gives me an excuse to get some exercise. I’d otherwise sit at my desk and work all day, and I’ve come to appreciate and cherish this time that I’m fortunate enough to have with him.
I return home and continue to work. My activities can vary depending on the day. Sometimes I’m very busy working on gift processing. Early in the month, I’m working on closing out the previous month. Sometimes, I spend part of my day working on special projects. Then, of course, there are always the days that derail all the best-laid plans where I’m problem-solving issues that arise. I continue to work until school lets out. Then the dogs and I go to meet my son and walk home with him. I’ll return to my desk and finish up what I’ve been working on and do a final email check for the day. I go into the office at least once a week, but generally more often. If my son is physically in school, I’ll go in during the day. If he’s not, I have to wait for my husband to get home from work. So, it’s not uncommon for me to come in late afternoons and into the evenings or even on the weekends. I also do fairly regular “pop-ins,” where I’m picking up or passing off work from and to others in the office.