What about TU is special to you?
I had never worked in an academic setting before, so this was my first experience. There was another lady who worked in the office, Hazel, who was a starting point for me. It was not the work — no one ever likes the work — but the people I would meet that made it worth it. I could just be in my office and the world would come to me!
We had speakers, visiting faculty and students come from all over the world. I worked with professors and their manuscripts on the sides. Because I was with the English department and the Writing Center, I was involved with almost the whole campus. That’s what I miss and think about the most since retiring: the people, the faculty. I was thankful to have that time with them.
My two daughters were also raised at TU. They both went to school there, so TU is also sort of a family affair.
Do you have some favorite memories of working in the English department?
Everything was special to me; it’s just the type of person I am. In 26 years, a lot can happen!
We always had a party at Christmas with all the professors and they always honored the staff. Professor Lars Engle for several years thereafter always wrote a poem to me and that was special. The faculty got together to throw a retirement party for me and people, even staff, came from all over campus. It brought me to tears in awe of how they thought of me. Professor Engle wrote and read me a poem for that, as well.
Also, when Professor Kestner was setting up the Film Studies department in Chapman Hall, he was buying movie posters to line the hallway. He would leave the posters with me to give to the Film Studies secretary. When the secretary picked up the posters, she said that she was going to put the James Dean poster in her office. When I told Professor Kestner about this, he asked me if I would like a poster. I said, “sure.” So, the next day I had a note from Professor Kesnter that he left something for me in his office. It was a large James Dean movie poster. I placed this poster in my office’s glass door. It was a conversation piece with students.
What was one of your favorite things about your job with the department? What was one aspect you really enjoyed?
I loved my job and I loved all the people I came in contact with.
One of my favorite things was getting to see students come in as freshmen and then watch them graduate. We always had Jolly Ranchers on the desk in the office for students. They would come in and take a Jolly Rancher for whatever they needed it for. When we did not have them, oh, my goodness, we had some sad students!
The graduate students and I, especially, always got along. I saw them on an almost daily basis for various reasons and I would see all of them working, anxious to finish their dissertations or exams. That’s a special moment for me. I always gave them a hug. Some of them, even undergraduates, would come in and say, “Sandy, can I have a hug?” and I’d say, “sure.”
We also had work-study students and I was their advisor, so I got personally involved with them. There was a time when a former student came into the office and I got in touch with security. There was only one entrance and one exit and no definite security plan in case there was a shooter. I got together with five male work-study students and we devised a plan. That was important to me: to keep everyone safe.
Do you have any advice for current English and creative writing undergraduates? Is there anything you’d like to say to the alumni?
I would like to say thank you because they all in different ways made my job better. To the undergraduates, I’d say follow your dreams; don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do anything. Stay healthy and well. Always be kind, because just one thing may change them in ways they did not intend to.
Lastly, how has retirement been?
It took me a whole year just to get the office off my mind. I’m thankful I don’t have to drive Highway 169 anymore. I’ve been knitting, crocheting and stitching. I have three grandchildren, so I have gotten to see them more and make things for them that they just love. My younger daughter and I have been doing a Bible study and that’s gotten me through everything that’s going on. These are what fill my days, but I’m just thankful to be healthy and safe.
I will be forever grateful that first day when I walked to the Department of English for my interview with Dr. Gordon Taylor who was chair at the time.
A Final Christmas Poem for Sandy, 12-9-2011
By: Lars Engle
Sandra Vice
Is more than nice
Her care and cheer are beyond price;
For local knowledge, good advice,
Questions answered in a trice,
Warm smiles to melt the social ice
We all depend on Sandy Vice.
She’s watched the backs now of four chairs,
And helped them weather chronic cares –
The HLC, the unswept stairs,
Red houses bulldozed, sink repairs –
Where scholars lose their way, she dares:
Comptrollers in their tidy lairs
Greet forms without accustomed glares
That she impeccably prepares.
Sandy’s words have soothed our ears
And anchored us amid the fears,
The cheers, the jeers, the peer’s careers,
Now for more than twenty years;
A sad thought, as retirement nears
Owasso calls, and Sandy hears,
This gift of comfort disappears,
And, grateful but ever in arrears,
We water Tulsa with our tears.
No Saint Bernard with cask of brandy
Has rescued more lost souls than Sandy:
Profs bureaucratically unhandy,
Callers who don’t get Tristram Shandy,
Children seeking hugs and candy,
Sad grad students at a stand, we
Turn like sunflowers to Sandy.
Often she does something dandy.
She always tries.
So,
Celebrating someone grand, we
Wish you Merry Christmas, Sandy!