When Duane Timmerman was working as a line cook for the UW football team under coaches Fritz Shurmur and Fred Akers, he had no idea it would be the first of several positions he would hold during a more than 30-year career at the university.
A retirement reception recognizing his contributions to UW is scheduled Friday, Dec. 10, from 2-4 p.m. in the Wyoming Union West Ballroom.
He made many lasting friendships at those training tables before graduating and taking a position with the Wyoming Highway Department. Timmerman returned to UW in 1980 as a Physical Plant engineer. He became assistant director in 1985, associate director in 1995 and, in 1998, became project manager to implement UW's PeopleSoft HRMS project. That job turned into his current position as University Business Process Analysis manager.
Along the way he held every elected position on the Staff Senate, including president, and served on numerous campus committees, including the search committee that recommended Terry Roark to be hired as UW president.
Like many who worked at UW during that time, Timmerman witnessed many technological changes in the workplace.
"When we did the first early retirement plan I did analysis on my home computer as no one had a personal computer at work," he recalls. But technological advances are not what he'll remember most about his years at UW.
"I've been privileged to work with many, many great people -- too many to name," he says. "It is the people here that I will miss the most."
