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Marjorie Harter
Administrative Assistant
Philosophy, Religion, Jewish Studies, and Public Policy
Marjorie Harter knows a
thing or two about juggling priorities and multi-tasking. As the
administrative assistant for two departments and two separate
academic programs, which includes maintaining five Web sites,
keeping her workload at a manageable level is no small
accomplishment. Making effective use of the available technology
effectively, she says, makes a big difference in her daily life.
“I’ve become pretty computer savvy—it makes my job much easier,”
Harter explains. “With four chairs and 25 faculty members, I have
to stay on top of a lot of different, time-sensitive things. One
small change I’ve made that seems to help is that I try to send
everything electronically; I very rarely send paper anymore.”
Harter also thinks that the more that can be
done online, the better. “A lot of people weren’t too happy when
we were told that the bulletin was going online, but I was
ecstatic. It’s a much better way to do things. The same thing
happened with Trinity Exchange—some people were upset, but nobody
liked the old system either. Rather than waiting for an e-mail in
the morning or in the afternoon, you just plug into the site and
everything is right there in front of you. I love it. Everyone
just needs to learn how to use the technology that is available.
It’s really just common sense.”
When she’s not busy
coordinating class schedules, planning events, and dealing with
student issues, Harter is active in the community. She’s been
singing in her church choir for nearly 20 years, about the same
amount of time that she’s been teaching Sunday school to fourth
through sixth graders. “I’ve been involved with young people all
my life,” she says. “They help to keep me young. They certainly
keep me busy and I really enjoy them.” And as if that weren’t
enough, Harter is also an assistant leader for her seven-year-old
granddaughter’s Brownie troop. “Other than that, I’m in the gym,”
she says with a laugh.
Prior to joining Trinity in 2001, Harter was the assistant to a
clinical scientist at Bristol Meyers Squibb, the pharmaceutical
company; before that she spent 10 years at Wesleyan working in the
Asian Language and Literature Department and the language lab. As
for the difference between the private sector and the world of
academia, she says, “I liked my job at Bristol Meyers Squibb, but I
think my heart belongs here—at a college. Trinity is a very
special place. The students here are really great kids and they
keep me on my toes. I figure, at my age, I have to keep my brain
moving, keep it working.” |
