Sue Gow Celebrates 40 Years of Service
Sue Gow
Sue Gow, Undergraduate Student Advisor in the Academic Services Office, may not be "ancient"--although she jokes that she is--"I'm always telling people I'm older than dirt," she said, borrowing a favorite saying from her mother.-but she has certainly done and seen a lot in her 40 years of service to the University.
Gow grew up in the Dearborn/Detroit area but settled near Pinckney, Michigan. Her mother worked for the U-M hospital for 24 years, and Gow expected to follow in her footsteps and work at the university too. Besides, "Everyone who graduated from Pinckney High went to the 'big city' of Ann Arbor," she said.
She landed her first position at the age of 17, working as a clerk in the hospital's Cancer Research Department. Her first day she was not allowed to work as she didn't have her 'working papers'. So the hire date of 6/6/66 came and went without much ado. Finally working, the job required her to send letters--typed on a manual typewriter--to patients to find out how they were doing. If the patients didn't reply, Gow would call them--with the assistance of a trunk operator to get an outside line. "There I was at 17 calling cancer survivors," she said. "Sometimes I heard horrible stories from the patients' families, and sometimes I would hear, 'Oh, thank you so much for caring.' It was definitely a learning experience. One had to be sensitive and at 17 I was very inexperienced, to say the least." Gow recalls her first paycheck was $206 at the end of the first month and how rich she felt--she has been paid on a monthly basis for all 40 years!
From there, Gow's next job was in the hospital's Personnel Department. After her daughter was born in 1969, she was hired back as a temp at Central Campus. One day she was filing bid forms and saw a job opening at the Rackham Graduate School. "It sounded interesting." She applied and was hired. Sue spent the next 15 years at Rackham as a Recorder and soon worked her way up to Supervisor of Records.
A sweet memory was the visit from Presidents' Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter to speak at the Rackham Auditorium. Since Ford was on crutches the two were unable to take the secure route from the basement of Rackham to the theatre stage. They instead had to come through the front doors and up the ramp to the elevator, surrounded by security. Gow and her staff stood to the side as the two former Presidents came up the ramp. Not to miss an opportunity, Gow stepped forward at the optimum moment and shook Carter's hand. She states, "I never felt I would have such an opportunity again - carpe diem!"
Boredom eventually set in. "I was happy at Rackham, but it was time for new challenges."
Gow was hired in May 1984 as the 'first and only' Undergraduate Student Advisor [staff] that the ME Dept has ever known. Her first weeks weren't quite what she had hoped, however. "I was given a desk, a phone, and filing cabinets full of student folders but little direction of what to do next. Being May there wasn't much activity. It was horrible," she recalled. "I was used to having every answer slip off my tongue. I knew where to find everything and how to do everything. Suddenly you're the new kid on the block and I wasn't so sure I'd made the right decision. Perseverance prevailed and Sue quickly learned the ropes. Now, 22 years later, she says the ME Department is "the greatest place on earth to work. To avoid some of the same pitfalls, Gow now helps new advising staff acclimate to the College of Engineering by answering questions, staying heavily involved in many aspects of College policy and practices as it relates to the undergraduate student population, and provides a lot of 'history' on 'how things have evolved over time." Working with colleagues in Engineering, and recently returning as Coordinator of the CoE Department Student Advising team, Gow enjoys the challenges as well as working with others to find resolutions to issues "the staff and students encounter". "Where the real satisfaction comes in is from being able to help students. Some face personal or financial crisis." She states. "This can lead to academic difficulties. When a student leaves the University because of academic problems but is able to return and be successful, it makes the work all worthwhile." Through the years Gow has made many friends of students who have come back to visit and they often bring their children. "I know it won't be long before these kids will become ME students themselves. Heaven help me if I'm here that long!", she chides.
"Where else would a girl from Pinckney get the opportunity to go to China?" That's just what she did in April 2006 to help interview students applying to the new Joint Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. "What an experience!" she said. "I met many SJTU faculty and toured their new campus. In some ways, the visit helped me relate to the SJTU students when they arrive at Michigan. We know the same Professors and I've sat in the same classroom they did. My only regret is that the trip was too short."
Gow has experienced three ABET reviews [Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology], while in ME and has seen course registration go from IBM cards to CRISP (computerized registration including student participation) to phone-in, and now on-line, and has advised and ushered--to date--4,963 undergrads from sophonore level through graduation., during her years in ME a notable three of her former charges will have returned to the department as faculty. (Can you guess who they are?)
Gow's next milestone is retirement. "Probably in a few years" she says, "to spend more time with my 19 month old grandson, Chaseten. She says without reservation, "The wonderful experiences I've had and the terrific people I've met are memories that will be with me forever."
