Navigate

Taking Time

From the University Report (published by the GAA 1970-94)

Graduation and Reunion Weekend is once again upon us.  It is a time for reflection, a time for recalling the special experiences of today’s departing students and for reflecting upon those wonderful memories of Carolina’s returning former students.

Unfortunately, again this year as last, the University faces significant financial strain.  Unanticipated expenditures and lower than anticipated revenues for the state of North Carolina have forced the University to freeze all new spending and hiring from state funds.  This places particular pressure on deans and department chairs who are hard at work trying to recruit new faculty as well as retain our present faculty.  These troubled times make all the more important the generosity of alumni and friends of the University whose gifts large and small can help to assure the continuing excellence of this First State University.

Now seems an appropriate time to say “thank you” to the many whose faces we may seldom see but whose good works we benefit from each day.  I refer to the University’s staff whose love and devotion to Carolina is boundless.  Their positions and titles may not draw them to our immediate attention, but they help make Carolina special.

They seek no accolades, but their work is essential.  After the students and the faculty have left the classrooms, the housekeeping crews clean, dusts and removes trash.  The grounds crews assure that we enjoy a beautiful campus with well trimmed, grass and well maintained gardens, bushes and trees.  Traffics and security personnel try to do the impossible – assure that the all too few parking areas on campus are maintained, that traffic flows, and that during the occasional ice and snow storms, sidewalks and streets are cleared so that we can travel safely.  Student infirmary and hospital personnel provide quality healthcare and a friendly smile to students whose anxieties about mid-terms are complicated by the annual winter flu.  Resident advisors in the dormitories work to provide a residence hall environment that encourages both personal and academic development.

The University’s physical plant and maintenance crew help repair the aging facilities on the nation’s oldest public university campus.  Secretaries and administrative assistants prepare payroll, class records and process the myriad forms necessary to keep Carolina moving forward.  None of the University’s loyal staff seek any personal glory, though they are recognized for their length of service and some, for the quality of their performance, receive the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award.  And while many University staff may not have attended Carolina, all take pride in the history, traditions and qualities that make Carolina and Chapel Hill special.

A colleague of mine at another major public university was once asked by that university’s new president what he might do to help.  My friend responded that if he could request but one favor, he would not ask the president for something specifically for the alumni association.  Instead, he asked the president each day to leave his office, to walk across the campus, to be with the students and, most  importantly, to acknowledge a staff person doing a good job, shake his hand and thank him.

There is much that goes into making a community, and I do not intend to take away from the critical importance of inspired leadership that can and does come from our faculty, from our administration, from our students, and yes, from our alumni.  But let us never forget that there are others whose work is of immense importance, though it may be too often taken for granted.  The contributions of University staff are vital.  Let us express our appreciation.  Let us take time to say “thank you.”

 

Yours at Carolina,

Doug signature

 

 

 

 

Douglas S. Dibbert ’70

 

 

 

 

Share via: