ISU's Longest Term Employees Reflect on Over Four Decades of Service

As Idaho State University has been celebrating 125 years of education and growth, it’s easy to look back on the past and only see what has changed — the buildings, the town of Pocatello, the hairstyles, and more — but as two of the longest-serving employees of ISU, Joy Chivers and Kathy Hoffman, put it, some things never change. 

When Joy Chivers was first hired at the then Allied Health Professions department in 1980, she had an associate's degree in secretarial studies from BYU, a wicked talent for writing shorthand, and a love for the complicated and ever-evolving field of health sciences.

“When I first interviewed for the job, I went in, and Delane Kritsky was the chair of the department at that time. I went into his office, and he was sitting back with his foot up on the desk, and he was tapping a pencil like this, and he was asking me these questions. All of a sudden, he leans forward and goes, ‘Do you take shorthand?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ And he goes, ‘How fast?’ And I said, ‘Well, I take 120 words a minute with a couple of errors.’ And he leaned back and threw the pencil up in the air, and he said, ‘Yee-haw! We finally found one!’ That's how I started,” Chivers said. She would spend the next few years in the basement offices of the Beckley Nursing building before being moved to the dean’s office, which oversaw the radiographic science and healthcare administration programs. Her support was instrumental for the wider success of the health science fields at the university. 

During her tenure, Chivers worked under five different university presidents and enjoyed seeing the different ways that each of them approached the challenges and successes at ISU. She saw the growth of the healthcare programs from offering two to now over 65, and the evolution of the nursing program, which is now celebrating its 70-year anniversary. 

When asked about her interactions with students, she said that she always enjoyed seeing how much they grew during their time at ISU. “We do our reception every year for our Professional Achievement Award winners, and to hear their stories and see how they started out in these little towns, get their education, and they go out, and ten years later they've made such an impact. Some of them have changed the whole way that health care is looked at. And so I'm just amazed at the quality of students there are. It only takes one person to change a whole lifetime of things,” Chivers said. She even got to watch Dr. Tom Wadsworth go from a small-town student to the Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Professions. 

While so many things around the university have changed and grown, Chivers says that the people were the unchanging factor that made her stay for 46 years of service. “I've appreciated all the people that have had an impact on my life in my job,” she said. “Dr. Linda Hatzenbuehler (former executive dean of the Kasiska Division of Health Sciences) had my back for a lot of things, and I feel like she rescued me from a bad situation. I feel like the people that have touched my life have taken care of me and helped me through situations — I might not have stayed at ISU if it hadn't been for how they helped me when I was struggling. It just seemed like there was always somebody who stood up for me when I needed it.”

Chivers has now partially retired from the university and looks forward to reading an ever-growing stack of must-read books, singing with a few local choruses, exploring new recipes, and completing her “restaurant bucket list” with her best friend. 

While some may look forward to relaxing during retirement, the university’s longest-serving employee, Kathy Hoffman, who has worked at ISU for 47 years, says that she will never stop learning. 

At the age of 17, Hoffman got her first job as an office assistant while studying at ISU. After the spring semester, she was asked to fill in as a reference librarian, and she has never left since — working her way up to become the Director of Networking Infrastructure for the entire university. 

She explained that her lifelong love of learning propelled her to greater and greater career heights. “I made a point of letting the director at that time know that I needed to learn more. And so I just kept getting promoted,” Hoffman said. However, she could never commit to one topic when it came to her studies. “I changed my major five times, and I ended up with like 200 credits, but I never graduated with a degree.” Now, at 65, she still has the same drive for knowledge and growth. “I need to figure out my next step. I can't just go home and retire. I can't.” 

When asked about her favorite wild memory from her time at the university, Hoffman described the building of Rendezvous: “There were days where they were going to be using dynamite to blast the rock base and stuff. We'd all pile up against the window and stare and watch the ground go. [...] no big explosions, thank God, because we were right there.” Since then, Rendezvous has become a hub for learning, living, and relaxing on campus. 

Through all of the changes and shifts, Chivers and Hoffman said they stayed because of the people who supported them and their ability to shift and evolve in their roles. While these women are just two examples of what an ISU experience can look like, they represent a larger culture of opportunity and inclusion. Their stories, the experiences of the staff, students, and community, and the ethos of the university display a deep-rooted commitment to meeting all newcomers where they are. Their stories show that at ISU, you are not only welcomed with open arms, but you are given the tools, resources, and support to go wherever you want to be.