ASM Boasts Staff With Staying Power

ASM Boasts Staff With Staying Power

By Alexis BlueUniversity Communications
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Front view of Arizona State Museum
Front view of Arizona State Museum
Arizona State Museum employees Diane Dittemore (left) and Mike Jacobs (center) talk with Tucson Mayor John Rothschild during his visit to the museum. Dittemore has worked at ASM for 34 years and Jacobs has been there for  41 years, making him the museum's longest serving staff member.
Arizona State Museum employees Diane Dittemore (left) and Mike Jacobs (center) talk with Tucson Mayor John Rothschild during his visit to the museum. Dittemore has worked at ASM for 34 years and Jacobs has been there for 41 years, making him the museum's longest serving staff member.

The Arizona State Museum has an enduring legacy on the University of Arizona campus, celebrating its 120th year in operation.

In addition to being one of the longest-running entities on campus, it also is home to some of the longest-serving University employees.

In a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that today's average worker stays at each of his or her jobs for about 4.4 years, the Arizona State Museum boasts a number of staff members with staying power.

Roughly half of the museum's 55 staff members have served at least 10 years on the job, with a dozen of them surpassing the 20-year mark.

Among them is Mike Jacobs, who will celebrate 41 years on the job in August and is the museum's longest-serving employee. As an archaeological collections curator, he supervises access to collections, working with researchers, cataloging materials and overseeing and recommending museum acquisitions.

"We really have a great atmosphere here. In all the years I've worked here there's been very little disagreement. It's a very collegial place to work," said Jacobs, who held a research assistantship at the museum as an archaeology graduate student in 1970 before joining the staff full time.

After a brief 18-month stint working in the museum gift shop, Jacobs realized that a job in retail was not the right fit; he jumped at the opportunity to transfer to collections, where he has remained happily ever since.

"Work in museums, especially if you're an anthropologist, is very gratifying work," he said. "There's something very satisfying about helping to preserve heritage for the state. Our fundamental responsibility is preservation of materials and educating the public about those materials."

Jacobs has witnessed a lot of change since he started at the museum, including the significant expansion of museum collections and the relocation of the facility. When he was first hired, the museum was located in what is now known as the Arizona State Museum South building, located across the street from the current Arizona State Museum and used primarily for storage. It was 1977 when the museum relocated to its current home, formerly the UA library.

Diane Dittemore remembers the transition to the new building. An ethnological collections curator, she has worked for the museum for 34 years.

Despite her more than three decades there, she says her work never gets dull.

"I have an incredible love of the collections and a passion to share the collections with the public," she said. "It's an exciting field and my job is different every day."

And while she's gotten to know her longtime colleagues over the years, she enjoys seeing fresh faces, too.

"Many of the people I work with are people I've worked with for 20 years, but it's also a thrill to engage with our younger staff in the next generation," she said.

It seems longevity of service has long been a hallmark of Arizona State Museum staff, or so suggests a look at some of the past directors' tenures. Byron Cummings served as director for 23 years, from 1915–1938; Emil Haury was at the helm for 26 years, from 1938–1964; and Raymond H. Thompson served as director for 34 years, from 1964-1998.

Patrick Lyons, who was appointed director of the Arizona State Museum this year, said the museum's longtime employees are especially valuable.

"Few museums are blessed as we truly are in the area of institutional memory. It is difficult to overestimate the value of such long tenures among curators," he said. "Having done research in the collections of many different museums across the country, I can say that there is no substitute for curators who know their collections as well as ours do. They know the history of use, they understand the intellectual context, and they are able to suggest the best objects and methods through which researchers can obtain the answers they seek."

Other long-time museum employees include:

  • Rich Lange, archaeologist and research specialist, 36 years
  • Paul Fish, curator of archaeology, 34 years
  • Suzanne Fish, curator of archaeology, 33 years
  • Alan Ferg, archivist, 33 years
  • Arthur Vokes, curator of archaeological repository, 31 years
  • E. Charles Adams, curator of archaeology, 28 years
  • Nancy Odegaard, conservator and head of preservation, 28 years
  • Mary Graham, head librarian, 26 years
  • Beth Grindell, former director and senior curator of archaeology, 21 years
  • Lisa Zimmerman, registrar, 21 years

To learn more about the Arizona State Museum's 120-year history, check out the UANews slideshow "Arizona State Museum Celebrates 120 Years."

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