Remarks by Amy Farrell
Professor of American Studies and Women's Studies

Staff at Dickinson

A few weeks before winter break, Ann Dykstra called and asked if I would be willing to speak about the significance of the staff to Dickinson, from a faculty member’s perspective. That, I said, would be a joy— I’m very clear on how important staff have been in my life as a faculty member.

I came here as a young faculty member almost 17 years ago, in July of 1991. I was 27 years old, fresh out of graduate school, hired to teach in the departments of American studies and women’s studies. I moved here across the country, from New Mexico, with my one month old baby boy and my husband John. I had traveled to Dickinson in March to interview for the job; on the last night of my visit my sister Ann Midgley called me up at the Days Inn to see how I was doing. [now works at the College] I had already been offered a job at a research university out west, so Ann asked me what I thought I would do if I were offered the job at Dickinson. I distinctly remember mulling it over with her—the other university had a prestigious and growing department, great research opportunities, and lots of graduate students to work with. Dickinson, in contrast, offered me the opportunity to work closely with students, to teach small classes, to be part of two rather new fields—American studies and women’s studies. Well, Ann said, it looks like it might be a difficult decision. We were quiet for a moment, and then I said, “The Dickinson campus is ---beautiful….even on this snowy rainy dull March day…. Even the wooden chalkboard trays in Denny Hall gleamed!”

I also noticed, when the students took me for the campus tour, that they knew the person who took our meal cards, they chatted with the person at the front desk in the HUB, and they introduced me to the staff behind the library circulation desk. And, finally, I remember telling Ann, Dickinson has a spectacular Children’s Center! Right on campus! With an infant room! With friendly teachers and a funky table where the chairs are built right in! “

For me, once I was offered the job at Dickinson, it was a no-brainer to accept it rather than the major research institution. And, I don’t want to slight the faculty who encouraged me to come, or the wonderful possibilities of teaching small classes (both of which were important to me), but in the end, I’ll have to say that the gleaming chalkboards, the friendly people I met, and the Children’s Center also made the difference.

So, when Ann Dykstra asked me to talk about the staff, you can see why I had to say “yes.” I recognize how important it is to recruitment of students and faculty that our buildings are so clean (thank you, in Denny Hall, where I spend so much of my time) and so well maintained, that everything is freshly painted, that the place is always litter free, and the grounds covered with flowers and gorgeous plants. I realize how important it is to everyone’s working environment that we have a wonderful dining service, and kind and competent folks who work everywhere from the cashier’s office to the Quarry and the Kline Center to the Physical Plant. I realize how important it is that we have spectacular teachers who care for our children while we’re working elsewhere, particularly for those of us who arrive on campus with no extended family in the area to help us figure out the details of caring for our babies and toddlers. (I especially recognize how much Marcia Fraker, Jody Gelding, and Esther Cohick helped my husband and myself in caring for our newborn Nick! We knew a little bit more by the time our daughter Catherine was born, but with Nick, we really didn’t know anything.)

For many faculty, immersed as we all are in teaching our classes, advising our students, attending meetings, and doing our research, we realize the importance of various members of the staff most powerfully when something breaks down: For instance, as many of you remember, last fall, on the Saturday evening before classes began, a tornado (or at least what felt like a tornado) blew through campus at the same time that all the first year seminar instructors were meeting with the new students. Huddled in the basement of Denny Hall with what felt like thousands of nervous 18 year olds, I certainly realized the importance of the staff in Public Safety, in Physical Plant, and in Grounds. Whenever I or another faculty member has a distraught student in our office, we certainly recognize the importance of the office manager who calmly makes an appointment for the student in the Counseling Center, or the assistant in the Registrar’s office who patiently explains yet one more time what it going on with their transcript or schedule. When we can’t figure out the technology in the classrooms, or our computers do something odd, or we realize at the last minute that we’ve forgotten to order an important book for one of our classes, we certainly realize the importance of the staff member who bales us out.

And, of course, in the category of “baling out” faculty members we would have to include the department coordinators, who work with the faculty and the Registrar’s office to schedule all the classes, who help us to run faculty searches, who organize all the evaluations, who manage all the copying and web pages, and who listen to all the trials and tribulations of faculty and students with a level of confidentiality and professionalism that should make our college attorney Dana Scaduto very happy. Over the last 17 years, I’ve worked closely with wonderful folks—Barbara McDonald, Gladys Cashman, Elaine Mellen, Vickie Kuhn, and, most recently, Denise McCauley—who have literally managed to keep it all going in Denny Hall. I know that this kind of organizing work is repeated across campus, in every academic department, in facilities management, in admissions, in the Registrar’s department, in Old West, in Human Resources, in the library, in the development office.

Dickinson College prides itself on its ability to educate young people to become engaged citizens of the world. That education, of course, is dependent upon the faculty members who are hired to teach them, but that is only one segment of the employees who are necessary to make that education happen. This institution depends upon the crucial work of the crews who see to it that all the mechanical and physical aspects of our buildings are in working order, upon the staff in Public Safety who ensure we can feel secure around our campus, upon the Residential Life staff who create a good environment for the students while they are not in class. Dickinson depends upon the bookstore staff that manages all our book orders for every semester, upon the Dining Services staff that prepares delicious meals for everyone from visiting speakers to thousands of students each day, upon the Health Center staff that deals with all those coughing students. This institution depends upon each of us, from the Children’s Center staff who care for the youngest members of our community to the Admissions and Development staff that make sure there will be a Dickinson here for us in the future.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the names of everyone who works here, and I also don’t know the details of everyone’s job. What I do know, however, is that your work is essential to everything I do as a faculty member. What we do here at Dickinson—educating students—is truly a community effort, a huge mosaic in which every tiny bit of stone is integral to the final picture.

So, on behalf of all the faculty, I want to say thank you, to everyone. Because of your fine work, it’s a good place for all of us to be employees. And, because of all of our work, it’s a great place to students to come for their education. Thank you.