Academic administrative assistant Kathy Ambrose in the English Department’s suite. (Photo William Oehler/The Gettysburgain)
By Laken Franchetti, Editor-in-Chief
Each department at Gettysburg College has an academic administrative assistant who performs secretarial, clerical, supervisory and administrative services for the faculty members and students in their department.
Some of the work that academic administrative assistants complete includes greeting incoming students, faculty and visitors to the department, submitting payment requests for vendors, reimbursements for faculty and students and payments for speakers, planning for upcoming events, keeping the departmental websites up to date, arranging accommodations for job candidates and updating departmental catalogs, handbooks, brochures and newsletters. Additional work can be specific depending on the department.
Academic administrative assistant for the English and East Asian Studies departments Kathy Ambrose has been with the English department for three years and the East Asian Studies department since the summer.
“There’s specific duties that are the same in each department—balancing the budgets, reconciling the purchasing cards, submitting course schedules every year, and adjusting classroom assignments,” Ambrose said. “It’s a big difference having so many faculty members in English and so few in East Asian Studies. I think that sometimes people don’t realize that a smaller department doesn’t necessarily mean there are less things to do.”
Ambrose works with 21 faculty members in the English department and five in East Asian Studies. She also manages student administrative assistants, such as Cassidy Haines ’26.
“Working in the English department under Kathy Ambrose has been my favorite job ever,” Haines said. “I am lucky and so grateful to work under Kathy as a student administrative assistant. I love my job and I look forward to coming to work every day — Kathy is one of the kindest people I have ever met, and it is a pleasure to work with and learn from her.”
The majority of the time, when an academic administrative assistant retires or leaves the College, these positions and their duties are given to a pre-existing academic administrative assistant.
“That has become a trend,” Ambrose said. “Just this summer, it changed so that I, in the English department, would now support East Asian Studies. The academic administrative assistant in McKnight [Robin Oliver] now has five different departments to support.”
Robin Oliver is the academic administrative assistant for the French, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (LACLS) departments. Oliver was previously the academic administrative assistant for three departments, yet the two additional departments were added to her duties in July. Oliver works with 29 faculty members across these departments, and she is the only remaining administrative support staff member in the McKnight building.
“I’m the only admin in my building. So, when I’m not there, if someone locks themselves out of their office for example, they have to go to DPS. That’s inconvenient for them, and it’s difficult for me because I feel guilty if I’m not there. That should not be not the case,” Oliver said.
Oliver did recognize that despite the added workloads from newly acquired departments, faculty members continue to be supportive and thankful for the work that academic administrative assistants do.
“These faculty depend on us, and they appreciate us like there is no tomorrow. They stand up for us, and they speak for us when we don’t have a voice,” Oliver said. “I cannot stress enough how much the faculty are aware of the additional pressures placed upon us. Even if they’re not aware of all of the things we do to keep everything running seamlessly, they are extremely grateful that we are there.”
Valerie Andrews is another academic administrative assistant that has been given an additional department. Andrews previously covered the political science department, and the management department was added to her duties in July. She works with 24 faculty members across these two departments, and she echoed the thoughts that Oliver gave.
“With now having an additional department, the faculty from both departments have reached out to check on me and make sure I’m not overwhelmed,” Andrews said. “They’re fantastic.”
Psychology department academic administrative assistant Amanda Whitcomb agreed with these sentiments: “There’s a value there, and there’s mutual respect, which is very important in our role.”
Although faculty members seem to recognize the large amount of work put in by the academic administrative assistants, Ambrose explained that students likely don’t realize the work that they are requested to accomplish within their normal work hours.
“I would say students probably don’t understand the work we do,” Ambrose said. “Most of the work that we do is ‘behind the scenes’ in support of the faculty and the department.”
Haines agreed with this thought: “While most of the administrative work is completed by Kathy, I work closely with her, and I can attest that the work of the academic administrative assistants around campus often goes unnoticed by most individuals, including the College administration.”
Andrews expressed similar thoughts: “I think they [students] see the things that more so affect them—the things that they are a part of or are going to take part in,” Andrews said. “Even though the students don’t know everything we do, I think they know more than the administration does.”
Andrews explained that she believes the administration knows the general responsibilities performed by academic administrative assistants but does not understand the full scope of the job, nor do they recognize the nuances between departments. Ambrose expanded on this idea that the administration may not significantly understand the role.
“I think the administration understands to a certain degree. I believe they put a lot of emphasis on the size of a department—the number of students and the number of faculty—and lots of times, that doesn’t matter,” Ambrose explained. “You still have to do the required assignments (i.e. schedules, reconcilements, just to name a few) whether there’s four faculty members or 20. I’m not sure that they understand all of the small details that we have to do to make sure the department runs smoothly.”
Academic administrative assistants are paid at an hourly rate, with a restriction of 37.5 hours each week during the academic year and 20 hours each week during the summer months.
Whitcomb elaborated on the implications of these restrictions, noting, “Our standard workweek is 37.5 hours, and during the summer, our hours are reduced due to the perception that our workload might be lighter. While this is sometimes the case, it’s important to recognize that these restricted hours can pose a significant hardship. Nevertheless, we consistently manage to meet our responsibilities within these constraints.”
Oliver explained that despite only being paid for 37.5 hours a week, the academic administrative assistants often work over that.
“We’re only paid for the hours we’re allotted, but that doesn’t always equal the amount of hours we work,” Oliver said. “I have made it a point recently to be very cognizant of the time that I’m putting in. I love my job, I love the College, I love the people I work with—but I can’t let it take over, even though I now have double the amount of faculty I used to.”
Oliver expanded on these issues and the lack of appreciation from administration: “You’re not feeling valued because you’re not being compensated properly. You’re not shown any appreciation by the powers that be.”
Provost Jamila Bookwala commented on the decision to give previously established academic administrative assistants more departments rather than hire new employees.
“These changes align with an objective the President [Bob Iuliano] conveyed at the employee town hall last month, which was to reduce costs through attrition to the greatest extent possible,” Bookwala said. “It’s also important to note that when the College has consolidated positions, we’ve worked to balance workloads to align with what is feasible for a full-time position. We realize there is more work to be done to balance workloads and with regard to creating greater efficiencies and automation of processes moving forward.”
The Provost’s office recently met with all administrative support staff in the academic division to discuss how the office can better establish more open communication. Bookwala spoke on this hope to further know and understand the academic administrative assistants and their role at the College.
“The two new associate provosts and I have been visiting different departments to meet with faculty and staff,” Bookwala said. “In addition, we have been meeting with small groups of faculty over lunch on a biweekly basis this semester to get to know them. These informal lunches are in addition to the meetings we are holding with departments to get to know faculty and other discussion meetings we are holding for faculty on matters related to the academic division.”
Oliver reiterated her want to feel valued from the administration and appreciated for the work that academic administrative assistants are completing.
“We’re not against going the extra mile, and we usually do it. One of the things that would be important for me would be to have that appreciation from the administration. We all understand that the College has financial pressures, but feeling valued comes in many forms,” Oliver said.
This article originally appeared on pages 4 to 5 of the December 2023 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
