Whether you wanted to know how many (academic) chairs the physics department has had over the years or how many (physical) chairs were needed for the next College Executive Committee meeting, Georgeann Venis could tell you without missing a beat.
Venis’ depth of knowledge came from three decades of serving Colorado State University, first as a patient service coordinator at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital in 1987 before moving to the College of Natural Sciences’ dean’s office as a program assistant in 1995. She retired this June as director of the college.
“Georgeann’s dedication to the college was evident in her every interaction,” said Dean of the College Jan Nerger. “No task was ever to big, and no question was ever too small. Faculty and staff around campus who worked with Georgeann knew she would ensure any task was done efficiently and effectively. Those who worked closely with her knew of her extreme loyalty to the college and University. I am fortunate to have had Georgeann as my close assistant, and I’m sure the other deans who were trained by her would say the same thing!”
During Venis’ 22 years with the dean’s office, she served four deans: John Raich, Thomas Sneider (interim dean), Rick Miranda (now provost and executive vice president of the university), and Nerger. That means she worked with all but one of the college’s deans (the college’s first dean, William Cook left the post in 1984).
Over the years, Venis’ role in the college grew far beyond executive support to the dean. Her work included human resources, Office of Equal Opportunity coordination, consolidating promotion and tenure and annual reviews, and much more – including being the unofficial college proofreader and historian.
“I started at CSU thinking it would be a good job,” Venis said. “Thanks to my deans and mentors over the years, I left the university with an outstanding, three-decade career.”
The position of assistant to the dean is now filled by Korina Burn, who joined the dean’s office from the Department of Chemistry, where she was assistant to the chair. Burn assumed the role in June.
