This week we say goodbye to three of our colleagues who are retiring May 31. But before they go, we'd like to give them their last 15 minutes of fame on our blog. Our first interview is with Joy Andreakis, Manager of Electronic and Serials Publishing. Joy and I spent many hours together trying to figure how to map marketing fields from our previous database into a new one. Although the work may have been tedious at times, Joy was (as her name says) always a joy to work with. We will miss her positive presence around the office!
When did you start working for IUP?
I landed my first position with IU in the Business School in 1997, after I had moved from the San Francisco Bay area. I worked in the Accounting and Information Systems Department, then moved on to the Campus Life Division in Residential Programs and Services before coming to IU Press in 2002.
Tell us about your position(s) at the Press.
I was hired to customize the new Allbooks FileMaker Pro database and to merge the data of personal desktop databases each department had been using into one press-wide database. My position started out in the journals department, where the technology function resided initially. When IT became a department in its own right, I was relocated there. Eventually I returned to journals as the Manager of Electronic and Serials Publishing.
What has been the most rewarding part of your job?
I’ve enjoyed doing different things in my position, such as learning new technology, creating relationships with customer service representatives from the organizations that I interfaced with closely, and troubleshooting issues for journals and e-books.
What has been the most important thing you’ve learned while working here? What piece of advice do you want to leave?
The important things I’ve learned while being at the Press and my advice are one and the same: to create an intention to shape each day; don’t take things personally (I admit it’s difficult sometimes); let your eyes dwell on beautiful things as you leave the building every afternoon—in other words, put the negative stuff aside. And for my fellow retirees: “It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” ―Gabriel García Márquez
What is the first thing you want to do as a retiree?
The first thing I’m looking forward to once I retire is to go on camping trips with a friend who owns a Scamp trailer, affectionately referred to as “Lady and the Scamp”; a few s'mores (or pistachios) by firelight; being in nature—buzzing insects, wild creatures and all; and to create a compelling future based on “being more with less”, which I find exciting.
Congratulation and great interview! I love people having new worlds after they're done with their work lives.
Posted by: Judi romaine | May 28, 2014 at 11:37 AM