Open Memoir - About Working.- Having a Professional Career -- Shattered--Emotionally Damaged: Living With Job Burnout... Appendix I

Yeah, right, getting coffee, picking up suits from the cleaners...  that is "really" what every secretary wants to do--NOT! Did I ever tell you I was a professional secretary and belonged to The National Secretaries Association, which no longer exists these days due to technological changes...

Most changes occur for the good, but, often not for the employees and professionals who may have been affected at that time. (one of the hardest parts for me was being asked to lie about putting calls through to people... it was irritating mostly because I knew that most of the time, the individual didn't want to deal with the caller and so I had to "cover" for him or her...)

For one main reason! Time

This issue holds true even in today's world. But, bottom line for the majority of staff employees, their bosses know little about actual time involved in doing those small or large jobs that need to be done. For instance, say you've just been assigned to a busy top-level leader of the institution...

I'm going to use two provosts (academic leaders titles equivalent to vice-president...

! And, unless you are supervisor, like myself, who was promoted internally or actually took the time to learn about what their staff actually does, they fail miserably as bosses!

Sooo, of course, I began by looking back into earlier years of my life when I was a secretary--first as secretary to the Assistant Director of Personnel, then Secretary to the Director...On to Secretary to the University Provost, and then to Secretary to the Vice President for Academic Affairs at West Virginia University. BTW, Provost and Vice-President are similar in level. The VP titles came in when more vice presidents were being added and so they were all appointed as VPs.

In Personnel, while my first job was primarily as Records Clerk, I was also Secretary to S. Thomas Serpento when he was Assistant Director... TJ Wall, the director and Bettie Tucker, his secretary left about the same time. Mr. Wall retired and Bettie joined her husband in Pittsburgh, PA. Mr. Serpento moved into the Director position, as well as I also moving into the Director's Secretary's job...

I really enjoyed being a secretary, even though, with all of the technological advances over the years, the position of secretary ultimately was eliminated. However, during my time in Personnel, I started reading the director's mail, and noticed a routine  mailing from the Bureau of National Affairs...and so I began to become acquainted with the close relationship of the government and the university.... Reading and highlighting for the Director all applicable issues that should be considered at WVU.

Moving into the President's office was interesting. Provost Robert F. Munn, (which was then the only position reporting to the University President) was also the Director of our Libraries. He was a quiet man and so I was a little unsure of myself. The one thing I remember most is when I first started, I would be working, greeting him, "Good Morning... and he would come past my desk and directly into his office... Not a word... Well, that happened a little too often for me, so I remember I stopped speaking and would be filing or typing with my back turned... At some point, he started saying Good Morning... I was...relieved... and  was gratified when, as he gave up the Provost position to return to the Libraries, he offered me a job there... I was...honored... 

As Dr. Munn was deciding to leave the position of Provost, I also was asked to consider moving into a position as Secretary to Jay Barton, who was Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Trish, his secretary, was the one who approached me, and I can't quite remember how, but all of a sudden I was working for Dr. Barton, Trish had gone home to England, and Dr. Munn had moved back full-time as Director of Libraries.

Being secretary for Dr. Barton was probably the most demanding secretarial position I had. He was a very active administrator and just keeping his calendar was an ongoing endeavor to fit all who needed to see him into any given day. I had always been an individual who arrived early to work, and soon, Dr. Barton realized that I was there...so from about 7:30 to 8:30 AM, he would dictate ( I remember I had scored from 80 to 100 wpm on shorthand tests) but I knew he was moving faster than that... His dictation not only included letters to be prepared, but also the meetings he needed scheduled, travel to be arranged and anything else. It was nothing for him to dictate enough in that one hour to keep me busy the entire week. 

Soon I had to learn how to deal with this individual... He truly had NO idea...nor did he care to know, how much time was involved in doing what he needed me to do. 

How was I able to keep him happy? By little white lies... He would ask about something, such as did you talk to so-and-so... I would routinely say he was out of the office...and then I would call when he was in his next meeting and get the appointment scheduled... or whatever was urgent at the moment... I truly don't know how other secretaries handled an extremely heavy workload. But, having already learned how to cover for bosses, as they needed, I also learned how to cover for myself... Right or wrong, I did what I had to do to manage my time as efficiently as possible.

And so it was that another job was waiting when Dr. Barton was leaving to assume the presidency of Alaska University... I feel confident in saying that Dr. Barton was very instrumental in having a new office created for the instructional arm of the university... It was to that office, I was next asked to apply... for a position in a newly created Office of Facilities Analysis and Utilization. William J. Campbell was named to lead this small unit. There were two technical positions and one secretary. I had moved into a technical position and was responsible for all classroom scheduling, including all meetings, that occurred on campus... 

It was the first time I began to see a clearer career path for myself, moving out of the clerical classification.

I started working on July 17, 1963, and moved  through the above positions into the early 70s... The one major advantage I had was that Mr. Campbell had come to WVU from the University of Maryland and he knew the job I would be doing. In fact, he had created the process by which it would be happning on the WVU Campus... I was now totally responding to the offices of the deans and their department chairs as I worked to ensure each semester of classes would be in a space that was required...

President Harlow was president of the university in my earliest years. His presidency was by direct contact to each of his subordinates, and it was a strict line for most... Except for me. My job dealt with the instructional program and I would be working directly with that individual to make final decisions on those matters. In turn, the Provost/VP delegated some basic issues to the deans heading up the many programs taught at the university...

While the entire facilities group was under another VP and in line authority, my boss reported to him.  Additionally, at that time, the Health Sciences VP wanted to participate into centralized classroom management, so I also reported to his office regarding all things related to the Health Sciences programs...

I worked fine for many years under that broader reporting role ...until...I...didn't... A new hierarchy was to come, which created not only more work, but poorer and tighter communication lines...