Getting back to Business: Mary Spahn
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Photo by MaCabe Brown/USI |
| Mary Spahn poses with her Support Staff Performance Recognition Award. |
In the mid-‘70s, Mary Spahn was a student worker in the Division of Business while she earned an associate’s degree in secretarial administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in office management. She typed out tests on a manual typewriter, made copies on a mimeograph machine, and hand-stapled them for William B. Leedy, one of 10 faculty members in the division, located in the Wright Administration Building.
After graduation, she raised four children with her husband Frederick in St. Wendel, Indiana. The Spahns both grew up on the West Side of Evansville: Mary is a Reitz High School graduate and Frederick went to Mater Dei.
All of their children – Chris, Angela, Kevin, and Kim, a junior nursing major at USI – also attended Mater Dei. They also have one grandchild in California and another on the way in Evansville.
Spahn returned to USI four years ago and until June
worked as a textbook assistant in the USI Bookstore, where she was
considered such an asset that a coworker nominated her for Staff
Council’s annual
Support Staff Performance Recognition Award, which she received at
the Employee Recognition Luncheon in August.
“Mary’s wonderful attitude and friendly disposition really set the tone in the bookstore,” her colleague wrote. “She is always dependable and reliable and has a smile on her face. Even though she is very busy, I know I can always approach her for help.”
Established last year, the award recognizes “extraordinary professional contributions and quality service of support staff and their integral role in advancing the University’s mission and fulfilling its promise in preparing students to live wisely.” It includes a $500 prize and a trophy.
That trophy is now parked on the reception desk in the College of Business office on the Orr Center’s third floor. When three of the College of Business’s administrative personnel - Mary McGrew, Joyce Babillis, and Arlene Campbell – all retired in spring 2008, Spahn jumped at the chance to return to the college as an administrative assistant.
“I thought it was a golden opportunity to make a change, although I loved my work in the bookstore,” she said. “I started in the College of Business, and I’m going to retire in the College of Business!”
But hopefully, not too soon.
Wendy Knipe Bredhold
News and Information Services
wkbredhold@usi.edu
812/461-5259
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