Retirement Celebration for Jean Meyer to be held Friday, March 3

Financial Aid is hosting a retirement celebration in honor of Jean Meyer from 3-5 p.m. on Friday, March 3 in the Viking Union, Room 565. Everyone who has known and worked with her is invited to attend.

Meyer began working at Western in 1986 as a Program Assistant II for Financial Aid,  creating files and  processing financial aid transcripts. She reported to Ron Martinez, the director of Financial Aid, and Betty Gebhardt was her immediate supervisor, followed by Kay Lewis, then Clara Capron in 1991, who remained her direct supervisor until Meyer’s retirement. 

"Jean has served as the cornerstone for systems administration and associated software implementations in Financial Aid over the past three decades," said Assistant Vice President of Enrollment & Student Services Clara Capron. "She has also served as a catalyst for positive systems change."

"Through her collaboration with the ESS Division, Enterprise Application Services, Ellucian, the U.S. Department of Education, the Washington Student Achievement Council and beyond, she has always kept students and their families at the heart of her work, and despite the additional workload associated with making retroactive aid awards late in the year, Jean has always been the first to ask me to request additional state grant funds for Western students when such monies sporadically become available," Capron said. "Your colleagues and Western students will miss you, Jean.  Bon voyage on your new adventures. and please remember to visit Western as a port of call."

Meyer, who is also a WWU alumna, said she couldn't have found a better place to work than her alma mater.

“I loved Western as a student: great location, comfortable size – small enough to accommodate the personal touch from staff and professors, yet large enough to expand my horizons. When I was hired as an employee, it was like coming home," she said. "The work has been rewarding (providing an opportunity to help students), challenging (always something new to learn or problem to solve), and I’ve truly enjoyed working with so many dedicated, remarkable colleagues from many areas within Western.”

Meyer hopes to use her retirement to spend more time with extended family and friends, do some volunteer work, and indulge her love of travel.  To celebrate her retirement, Meyer is planning an 80-day cruise out of San Diego which includes stops at most of the Pacific Rim countries of Asia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii.