Maguire Byrkit, Mary Margaret

I learned in the recent UM Retirees Newsletter about the UM Staff Memoirs and Memories project,  As a loyal UM alum and 40 year UM staff member, I have lived "Go Blue" since first arriving on campus in the Fall of 1970 as an LSA Freshman.

 

I was known in my 40 years working at UM  - 8 years in LSA Academic Advising and 32 years in Central Administrative Computing - as the unofficial department historian, folklorist and hoarder.  The Bentley Historical Library is currently curating several boxes of UM materials which I donated, capturing in a firsthand way what IT administrative computing was like at UM from 1974 - 2014.  From computer punch cards to AI, I saved materials in case anyone in the future wants to wander the dusty corridors of IT administrative computing.  Shortly before retiring, I was featured in the July 28, 2014, University Records Staff Spotlight column.

 

My coworkers always said I liked a picture AND a thousand words, and I was known for the poems I wrote to honor longtime colleagues as they retired.  For my own retirement, I (for once) kept it brief and wrote "M3 in A2" with a photo collage of my life at UM from student days through retirement.  This poem and photo collage appears on the UM "Stories of the Staff" website that was created in 2017 to celebrate UM's Bicentennial. 

 

I would be very pleased and honored if the poem with photo collage is added to the new UM Staff Memoirs and Memories website.