Not even a Monday can wipe the smile from Tammy Warf’s face.
That’s because, after 11 years and several jobs on the UI campus, she still looks forward to coming to work.
“I really care about my job and I enjoy what I do,” she said. “I do my job with my whole heart; I haven’t looked at them as just jobs, but as my career.”
Warf started as a secretary for the Air Force ROTC program, went on to a soon-to-be-eliminated position in the Graduate College and was moved to Online and Continuing Education for a few months before landing in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ dean’s office, where she has worked the most during her UI career.
“After moving around I felt like LAS was the proper place for me,” she said. “My supervisor promoted me several times while I was there and she kind of became my mentor.”
Originally from Jacksonville, Fla., Warf was in high school when her father took a job transfer and moved the family to the Champaign-Urbana area. She later graduated from Champaign Central High School.
After short stints as a payroll administrator for a telemarketing company and a temporary-hiring agency (“a nerve-wracking job with a lot of challenges”), Warf applied at the UI in hopes of getting an entry-level position.
“I’ve been here ever since,” she said of the university.
But “here” is changing once again for Warf, who last month took on an office manager’s position with the UI’s atmospheric sciences department.
“I liked where I was, but this was an opportunity for advancement,” she said. “I spent a lot of time thinking about it because we were like a big family (at LAS). We always got along and people were accepting and open to everyone.”
She said she is still getting acclimated to the responsibilities in her new position, but one thing has not changed: “Everyone has been really nice and very welcoming.”
The biggest evolution in her job description is that she’ll be directly assisting faculty members and students.
“It’s definitely given me a new challenge,” she said. “In my old job there was a lot of the same thing from month to month. I can see it’s going to be a lot different just because of the increased student contact I have now.”
At LAS, Warf’s responsibilities included logistical planning, secretarial support and the preparation of meeting materials – skills she’s sure will transfer to her new position.
“LAS has 40 or 50 other units and it was a big deal just keeping on top of the day-to-day stuff,” she said. “It was my responsibility to assist the dean and the dean’s administrative assistant to help make the office run smoothly every day.”
The most important change with the new job is that she’ll be the go-to person who will ensure students are meeting graduation requirements.
Warf, married for 21 years with two children, said she looks forward to the increased student contact.
“They’re away from home and I think they probably need that extra shoulder sometimes,” she said.
After working at LAS for so long, she said she feels like she’s “starting from scratch” with the officer manager’s job.
“Dealing with all these student issues is different,” she said. “I feel like I’ve had to search more for answers and I’ve really had to pull my resources together. It might take a while but I’m sure I’ll get it figured out. I like things that get me going and make me think.”
As if she doesn’t get enough calendaring at work, Warf also helps plan events for her hometown church, Champaign’s Cornerstone Baptist. She also serves as a backup youth leader and is involved in the church choir.
“As a family we like to go on trips,” she said. “We go to a lot of southern gospel concerts – we really love gospel music – and we go to events centered around that.”
Warf said she suffers from an ailment that make her hands involuntarily shake at times – but it never keeps her from work and the condition seems to disappear when she picks up her newfound hobby, designing jewelry.
“When I’m doing my jewelry, for some reason my hands don’t usually bother me,” she said. “It gives me sanity.”
