Jeanne Burritt, a long-time and greatly-appreciated WSU employee, will be retiring on July 1. A luncheon retirement celebration will be held at noon on June 23 at the WSU Mount Vernon NWREC Auditorium. Notes of memories and well-wishes can be sent to Robin Miller (r.m.miller@wsu.edu).
Jeanne first began working for WSU as a time-slip employee in the Dean’s office at the College of Engineering in 1978. Later, from 1982 to 1986, she was part of Libraries Administration where she handled time cards and leave reports (which at the time were done manually each month) for over 400 employees. In 1986 she joined the Dean’s Office at the College of Veterinary Medicine where she worked as Fiscal Specialist and then Human Resource Manager. In 2007, she transferred to WSU Mount Vernon NWREC and became Administrative Manager, and helped to oversee the transformation of the western Washington unit into a full-fledged and successful Research & Extension Center.
Given her past history and work ethic, she was at first worried whether she would have sufficient work load to keep her busy! But, it soon became apparent that her multiple roles at the Center were going to be demanding and time-consuming. Even so, she never hesitated to execute her responsibilities faithfully and with professional courtesy and aplomb. Always available to help others, she has assisted faculty, staff, students, and community members over the years with duties ranging from HR questions and grant application deadlines, to Federal Property Acquisition, to fiscal management, land lease and facility agreements, and Center celebrations. The turkeys and hams that she prepared for Thanksgiving and Christmas pot-luck dinners became famous. Jeanne will be greatly missed, and she sends warm thoughts to all of her WSU colleagues upon her departure, especially her front office staff who will be trying to fill her shoes.
Best Wishes and Best of Luck to you, Jeanne!
