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By Titus Fox, senior
At Friends University, the name Nancy Graf may not sound familiar to some people, yet she assists the top person on campus. She is the executive assistant to President Biff Green.
Graf has worked for Friends University for 18 years. She started working as the secretary of the preschool in 1990 and a year later was promoted to division secretary for teacher education, where she worked for four years. She left to work for the Catholic Diocese for awhile, but Friends called her to see if she would like to work for the Randy Doerksen, vice president of administration and finance. She worked in that position for a year and a half, and then Green’s assistant left. Graf applied for the job and has been working there for the past 13 years.
“I love being here. It’s my home away from home,” said Graf.
The Graf family has several ties to Friends. After Graf started to work at Friends, her mother, Rose Martin, worked in Administration and Finance as the switchboard operator. Graf got to work across the hall from her mom for a while. Graf’s sister Barbara Parks came to work at Friends in 1995. Parks worked for Information Services and is now director of admissions processing.
Graf has been married for 32 years and has two daughters, Stephanie and Kelly, and she has three grandchildren. Both of her daughters went to preschool at Friends, and Stephanie was in the first kindergarten class on the campus. Graf’s daughters also went to college at Friends.
“She loves to spend time with her family; that is her top priority,” said Courtney Pitts, a student worker with Graf.
Graf likes the variety that Friends offers as well as the sense of community she feels when working with others on campus. One of the big things that Graf likes about working for the president is that he doesn’t micromanage. This allows her time to do the things that she needs to get done.
“She is very organized,” said Pitts. “She makes work interesting in a good way.”
Graf enjoys the freedom that the president gives her to do her work, and she admires how active he is and how involved with the students.
“I like to watch Dr. Green with the students,” said Graf, recalling the time that he returned from an intramural basketball game with a black eye.
Graf said that Green trusts her with the office, which allows him to do the things that he needs to get done, and allows her the time to do the things that she needs to get done as well.
Her other tasks at Friends include leading the events committee and serving as chair of the administrative assistants. As the events committee chair she helps put on events for the staff to get together, and that helps create a sense of community within the staff. Graf also puts a retreat together for all of the 58 administrative assistants twice a year.
If students want to see the president there is an open door policy. Procedures are in place so that deans can work with students to resolve issues, but Green is happy to talk to students.
“We make every effort to get students to see Dr. Green,” said Graf.
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