0
0
By Nicole Burdette / Staff Writer
By Nicole Burdette / Staff Writer
Dean Lorraine Anderson would not be offended if you referred to her as “just another thrower.”
Anderson will reach her 10-year mark as a member of the Riverside City College administration this November, and, only a month later, she will retire.
She began her career here as the Director of the Passport Plus Program, and also worked as the District Dean of Admissions before becoming Dean of Enrollment Services in July 2010.
She recently discussed her approaching retirement in December, the details of her seamlessly never-ending job responsibilities, plans post-retirement, her goals before she leaves her position and strangely enough, starfish.
It seems retirement is well deserved for Anderson, who oversees the transcripts office, Veterans Office, Student Financial Services and Outreach.
“It’s a big job, probably bigger than most people know, but I feel appreciated,” she said.
When asked what words of advice she might have for the incoming dean, Anderson simply said, “be prepared to multi task.”
It is a bittersweet semester for the Dean of Enrollment Services, but she explained that she is looking forward to spending more time with her family and “taking a little more time for me.”
Anderson has a daughter and grandchild in France and is currently learning French with her husband as they plan to spend more time there once she retires.
Although Anderson’s retirement is only months away, she still has goals she would like to accomplish before leaving her position. As an advocate for better online student services, she would like to move forward with electronic transcripts.
This year alone the Transcripts Office received 7,500 transcripts and sent out 4,000.
“I think students would probably say there’s still more we could do, and we agree,” she said. “Our technology needs to be more intuitive. But when you consider that we have 36,260 students in the district, I think we do a pretty good job of getting them into the system as applicants, registered and graduated.”
While family and more personal time are appealing, it is clear she will certainly miss the students and faculty that make up RCC.
“I have a lot to be grateful for, and I am grateful to have had this experience at RCC,” Anderson said.
She remains passionate about the students at RCC.
“The best part of my day is making a difference to someone. A person that I feel I touched personally,” she said.
That type of impact is what Anderson has strived for in her time spent at RCC. It is reflected in her work ethic, and in “The Starfish Story” that she was kind enough to share.
The story is that of a man who notices a fisherman walking along a shoreline riddled with starfish that, if left on the sand will die.
The fisherman is walking along, throwing as many starfish as he can back into the water.
This puzzles the young man, and he asks the fisherman why he bothers, explaining that the ones he might save won’t make a difference. The fisherman simply replied, “It made a difference to those ones.”
Anderson is a thrower. While her job is never done and there will always be room for improvement in regard to Student Services, she has impacted many individuals at this college in profound ways.
