By LANEY COOK, Student Reporter
Northwestern’s Alva campus has held onto some longtime female staff members since the 1980s.
Working in different departments on campus and meeting new friends and students, these women include: Myra Davison, administrative assistant to the president; Diane Penner, records coordinator of the registry office; and Valarie Case, university relations specialist. All have been on the Alva campus for at least 32 years.
Davison has been working at NWOSU full-time for 37 years.
She graduated from Northwestern in May 1984, majoring in both business as well as office and secretary work.
“I was working at Alva State Bank when a lady who worked on campus came in and said, ‘Myra, you should go see about working at the college. I think you’d like working there.’” Davison said. “So, I applied to work in admissions, but didn’t get the job.”
She said she continued to work at the bank, waiting until a new position opened up at NWOSU.
Davison said she applied for a split job, working part-time as a secretary in the Fine Arts Department and part-time as a division secretary for the Science Department. She got that job in the summer of 1984.
After her split job, she moved to the registry office and then to the business office. She began working in the university’s accounts payable department before settling into her current job.
In 2020, Davison received the Thelma Crouch Staff Employee of the Year Award for her exceptional performance and service by showing dedication to Northwestern and its students, university officials said in a news release.
Penner has been working at NWOSU for 34 years. She took a three-year break between 1994 and 1997.
“I graduated in May of 1984, got married a week later, then started full-time for Northwestern,” Penner said. “So, this is the only full-time job I’ve ever had.”
Penner started in the financial aid office on June 1, 1984, and worked there until 1994 because she and her family moved to Kingfisher for three years.
In 1997, Penner and her family moved back to Alva.
She decided to go back to work at NWOSU as a secretary to the dean of nursing for a year.
She moved to the registry office in September 1998 and has worked in the same position ever since.
Penner received the Thelma Crouch Staff Employee of the Year Award in 2018. She said it was a sweet and exciting time when she heard the news.
“I love working here with all the different faculty and students,” Penner said. “It’s fun when a student from a while ago calls and asks about professors they’ve had or if people are still in the same places as when they were going to school here.”
Case has worked at NWOSU for 32 years.
She said she started school here in 1981 and graduated in May 1985. After she graduated, she worked for the local newspaper for a few years before she started working at Northwestern.
In August 1989, Case started working in the public relations office on the Alva campus.
Case said she loved her time here as a student, so when she saw the position open up in an area she knew, she applied and got the job.
“I’ve pretty much stayed in the same department,” Case said. “We’ve undergone a few name changes – from public relations to university relations – but the same position.”
Case said she got the opportunity to photograph the winning season of the Ranger football team in 1999, the year the team won the national championship.
In 2000, Case graduated with her master’s degree while still working on campus.
Between 2002 and 2004, Case was an instructor in the mass communication program and the adviser for the Northwestern News.
She said she primarily taught students in print journalism classes. She taught courses such as news reporting, feature writing and news editing.
She also taught classes on public relations.
After being an instructor, Case went back to work as a public relations specialist.
Davison said she loves working on campus and getting to see all the friendly faces around.
“It’s fun getting to work with so many different people,” Davison said. “You think you know someone, but when you work with them, you find out they’re much friendlier and much more relaxed, so it’s a fun environment to work in.”