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October 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke

On May 15, 1971, Carol Davis and Linda Dodson were among the 200 students who walked across a platform in Barton Community College’s newly built gymnasium to become the College’s first graduating class.

Davis and Dodson had joined Barton’s first class of students in the fall of 1969, eager to learn and excited to be a part of a brand new educational experience. During their two years as students, they witnessed tremendous growth in the College and its campus – with the addition of three new buildings to the College’s original three by the time they graduated.

Then, instead of bidding the College farewell as most of their classmates did, the two young women began their careers at the College and have since experienced many more changes in the campus, its staff and its technology.

In the College’s 40th anniversary year, Davis continues her work as Assistant Librarian in the library – now called the Learning Resource Center. Dodson – now Linda Haberman – is Business Manager in the College’s Business Office. Both employees have a special regard for their experiences as members of the first class to attend Barton. They took time recently to talk about their memories of student life and their careers on the Barton campus.

They recalled no long lines when they enrolled at the College that first year – even though the first enrollment totaled 853 when only 525 were expected. The Library, Technical Building and Science and Math Building were the only structures on campus at that time. By the second year, new facilities added were the Classroom, Physical Education and Fine Arts buildings.

“The T-Building lobby was like a ‘union,’” Davis said. “They had tables set up and students could go there between classes.” Haberman remembers playing cards in the lobby. That was one of the students’ favorite pastimes while they were waiting for their next class, she said.

A graduate of Bazine High School, Haberman chose Barton because it was close to home and she knew other students who were planning to go to college there. “I knew I wanted to major in accounting at the time. I planned on going only two years from the beginning. I didn’t plan on transferring,” she said.

There were no dorms on campus, but the College gave out lists of apartments available to students in town. For their apartment, Haberman said she and her roommate paid $60 a month – $30 apiece. Davis graduated from Great Bend High School and was glad the College had opened so that she could stay at home and save money while going to school.

The weather on campus was always a challenge. They remember huge snow drifts, icy roads and strong winds. The campus had very few trees to help block the wind. Once, it blew over the 1,500-pound steel sculpture displayed west of the T-Building. And another time, the wind blew a window out of the building.

Davis and Haberman had a couple of classes together. They smiled when they thought about doing exercises in the lobby of the Science and Math Building in their physical education class because there was no gymnasium the first year. They also recalled an archery class they both took. Even though it was new, the College offered a variety of classes.

Both students felt they had some very good teachers. They remembered Pat Bauman and Janet Whitehill in physical education. Haberman had James Koch for psychology, while Davis had Dick Nagy, who was also the head men’s basketball coach. Both were good teachers, they agreed. They recalled their speech classes with instructor Pat McAtee. “I wouldn’t have made it through speech without him. He was so nice,” Davis said.

Haberman said her favorite teacher was George Cusick, who taught Accounting I and II. Also her adviser, he was instrumental in helping her get the job at the College when she graduated. She began working in the Business Office in accounts payable.

Davis also was destined for a position at the College. By the end of her first semester, she worked as a student employee in the library. An elementary education major, she was unsure what she really wanted to do, so when she graduated, she accepted a position on the library staff. As she continued working there, part of her job was to supervise work-study students in the library. She also began cataloging new library materials and processing the interlibrary loans in addition to other library duties.

At Barton, Davis had particularly enjoyed her history classes with Calvin Schwartzkopf and Gary Kenyon. While working, she continued her education, but found that she was always enrolling in another history class. She finally changed her major to history and earned a bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays State University. In addition, she has completed some library science courses from Emporia State University.

In 40 years, she has worked with six library directors and she served as Interim Director from 2000 to 2003. Over the years, she has seen many changes in technology. The library was always computerized, with each book having a computer key-punched card. And there were separate date cards for each of the check-outs and check-ins that were run through a huge computer each day. Today there are no computer cards, and all library operations can be done from a small PC or laptop, using a specialized library program.

Computer technology changed the interlibrary loan system drastically. “In the beginning all of the requests were made through the mail,” David said. “Now they are done by computer and the materials arrive so much sooner.”

Since 1995, many of the library’s subscriptions to magazines and journals have been changed to online subscriptions. “The students are just drawn to the computer to look for everything, so it’s a good thing we have those professional journals available on databases,” she said.

At times during the day, the library’s computer stations are filled, even though many students have their own laptops. Eventually, the library hopes to add more laptops that can be checked out by the students, Davis said. Even with all of the changes, she added, “our goal to provide all of the students – those on campus as well as online – with the best possible resources is still the same. We just do it in a different way.”

Presently, the library staff is looking forward to the library’s renovation. Work continues on the exterior now, but in January, the staff will pack up all of the books and equipment and move into to the Classroom Building to allow for renovation of the interior.

The circle that for 40 years has offered a space for students to sit and read books, magazines and newspapers will be filled in and the circulation desk will be stationed there. The paneling in the main part of the library will be changed to match the Cohen Center and windows will be added, matching those in the Cohen Center. The library also will have a new ceiling with better lighting, and new carpeting.

The area in which Davis and Director of Learning Resources Mary Hester share an office will become a coffee bar, and the large display case in the lobby will be gone. That entry area will be open. “I’ll miss that display case, because I’ve always liked doing the displays,” she said. But she is sure she will have some kind of display to work with in another part of the new library.

Haberman also has seen many changes in the Business Office in the past four decades. The department has grown from three employees to seven, and the division of duties is much more defined. Of course, the biggest changes can be seen in the computer system.

“The college has always been up-to-date with computer technology, from the days it first opened its doors,” Haberman said. The first enrollment was processed with computers much different from today’s, she added. Actual cards were punched for each seat in a class. Cards were pulled and student information was added.

Accounts payable was processed similarly. Purchase orders and invoices were accumulated in the Business Office for a two-week period then taken as “batches” to the Computer Center to be processed. Payment information was key-punched onto cards and run through the computer, which consisted of an L-shaped configuration of equipment that was probably 16 feet long. Totals were verified and checks were run, she explained.

Eventually, the office went to a new computer system and software. “Cards were no longer used and we entered all of the information in our office. We were able to process everything,” she said. The staff always ran edit reports to check before the information was posted into the system. This was comparable to the adding machine tapes used in the first system to verify amounts.

“We entered into our current system with a little apprehension,” Haberman said. This system no longer required edit reports. Everything was entered in real time. As soon as information was entered and saved, it was in the system.

“There went our ‘security blanket’ of checking entries before posting,” she said. “We made the switch in 1996 and have survived, without adding machine tapes or edit reports. Now, looking back, we would hate to go back to the extra, unnecessary steps.”

Many reports that previously were on paper now are online, which has its advantages, but it also means having the right passwords to get into them.

Over the years, Haberman has worked for six different supervisors. Today as Business Manager, she works with accounts receivable, federal and state reports and reconciling transactions in addition to overseeing the Business Office staff of six.

Accounts receivable also works more with students taking online classes. “We receive calls from anywhere and that means we run into different time zones,” she said, so they communicate with most of those students by e-mail. Because so much of the business is done by Web and e-mail, the Business Office also deals with new issues such as identity theft and is required to put more safeguards in place.

When students call with questions about making payments for an online class, Haberman walks them through the process and often will see the payment pop up on her screen before the call has ended.

In addition to experiencing Barton as a student and as an employee, Haberman now also has experienced Barton as a parent. All three of her daughters are Barton graduates. “It was good that they could stay at home the first two years, and we were able to save a lot of money on their education,” Haberman said. Two of them went on to Kansas State University and made the transition without any problems, she noted.

In 40 years, Davis and Haberman also have witnessed changes in the student population. They see larger enrollments now and a greater diversity of students in age and origin. There are many more non-traditional students and more students coming from outside the local area.

What hasn’t changed is their willingness to learn. Davis and Haberman look back at their days at Barton and are proud to have been among the first to set that tradition.