NEED a hand? Secretaries at cal u ARE happy to help students
By Eric Griffith
Secretaries at Cal U keep things running smoothly in offices around campus. However, another part of the job many secretaries enjoy is contributing to the education of students. Carrie Pavtis, the secretary at the Welcome Center in the Eberly Science and Technology Center, is one employee who fits this description.
Pavtis has been working at Cal for the last 13 years and is a Cal U alumna. She grew up in Belle Vernon and has been married for 17 years. Her 14-year-old daughter often visits Pavtis at work, especially during the summer months.
For Pavtis, being at Cal is all about interacting with the students. She loves that Cal is a “smaller campus” because she feels it allows the administration and faculty to have a one-on-one connection with each student. In her spare time, Pavtis reads and rides her husband's motorcycle. While Pavtis has no immediate plans for retirement, she said she looks forward to one day traveling around the world with her husband. “I would love to go to Ireland,” she said. “That is my ultimate dream."
Students who participate in sports are quite likely to meet Carolyn Robinson, the secretary for the
Department Of Health Sciences in Hamer Hall. Robinson, of Smithville, is an 11-year veteran of Cal. She attended the Bradford School of Business in Pittsburgh and mostly held secretarial jobs. Robinson is unmarried. “I'm far too picky,” she said. For her, working at Cal is all about the students she gets to interact with on a day-to-day basis. She said they are what keep her coming in to work day after day. Nevertheless, she dislikes the bureaucracy and red tape that can be involved working at the university. When she retires, Robinson hopes to settle somewhere quiet, isolated and peaceful. “Deep in the woods or up in the mountains,” she said. “Somewhere where I don't have to interact with anyone unless I really wanted to.”
Unlike Pavtis and Robinson, Elizabeth Irene Savage is a secretary who many students may never meet. Savage is the secretary for University Technology Services in the basement of Manderino Library. Savage has been working at Cal only since July 2015, but she said she has settled in just fine. Savage was born and raised in Coal Center. She describes herself as “a wealth of useless knowledge,” a side effect of her spending much of her time reading, at least when she is not camping or swimming. She is not a California alumna but she states that she loves the campus, since it's close to home and it seems to be filled with good people. For Savage, assisting students to get a higher education has real meaning and she is happy to do it, despite not having a higher education herself. One day, Savage hopes to become an executive assistant, somewhere she can be part of a team working toward a goal.
These three women help keep Cal running day in and day out. While the students may change year after year, or the professors come and go as their classes do, these secretaries are the ones who stay year after year, making sure the Cal experience comes together.
Eric Griffith is a senior majoring in Journalism at California University of Pennsylvania. You can read more of Eric's pieces at journalismweekly.weebly.com
Pavtis has been working at Cal for the last 13 years and is a Cal U alumna. She grew up in Belle Vernon and has been married for 17 years. Her 14-year-old daughter often visits Pavtis at work, especially during the summer months.
For Pavtis, being at Cal is all about interacting with the students. She loves that Cal is a “smaller campus” because she feels it allows the administration and faculty to have a one-on-one connection with each student. In her spare time, Pavtis reads and rides her husband's motorcycle. While Pavtis has no immediate plans for retirement, she said she looks forward to one day traveling around the world with her husband. “I would love to go to Ireland,” she said. “That is my ultimate dream."
Students who participate in sports are quite likely to meet Carolyn Robinson, the secretary for the
Department Of Health Sciences in Hamer Hall. Robinson, of Smithville, is an 11-year veteran of Cal. She attended the Bradford School of Business in Pittsburgh and mostly held secretarial jobs. Robinson is unmarried. “I'm far too picky,” she said. For her, working at Cal is all about the students she gets to interact with on a day-to-day basis. She said they are what keep her coming in to work day after day. Nevertheless, she dislikes the bureaucracy and red tape that can be involved working at the university. When she retires, Robinson hopes to settle somewhere quiet, isolated and peaceful. “Deep in the woods or up in the mountains,” she said. “Somewhere where I don't have to interact with anyone unless I really wanted to.”
Unlike Pavtis and Robinson, Elizabeth Irene Savage is a secretary who many students may never meet. Savage is the secretary for University Technology Services in the basement of Manderino Library. Savage has been working at Cal only since July 2015, but she said she has settled in just fine. Savage was born and raised in Coal Center. She describes herself as “a wealth of useless knowledge,” a side effect of her spending much of her time reading, at least when she is not camping or swimming. She is not a California alumna but she states that she loves the campus, since it's close to home and it seems to be filled with good people. For Savage, assisting students to get a higher education has real meaning and she is happy to do it, despite not having a higher education herself. One day, Savage hopes to become an executive assistant, somewhere she can be part of a team working toward a goal.
These three women help keep Cal running day in and day out. While the students may change year after year, or the professors come and go as their classes do, these secretaries are the ones who stay year after year, making sure the Cal experience comes together.
Eric Griffith is a senior majoring in Journalism at California University of Pennsylvania. You can read more of Eric's pieces at journalismweekly.weebly.com