Reporter Volume 25, No.25 April 21, 1994

By MARK WALLACE
Reporter Staff

Students make up a crucial component of the work force that keeps UB
running, day in, day out.
	Through a variety of opportunities found in administrative
units and academic departments all over campus, as well as through the
Federal Work Study program, more than 3,000 students look to UB for
employment as well as education.
	According to the Total Work Force Report produced by Personnel
Services, as of March 1, 2,037 students were employed in positions at
UB that were not Work Study. The Office of Student Finances and
Records reports that approximately 1000 students currently hold Work
Study positions.
	"People don't realize the extent to which UB utilizes students
to provide services," says Robert Wagner, senior vice president for
university services. "One of the great things about university life is
that students have the opportunity to utilize their skills and talents
in direct work experience that hopefully will be useful to them as
they move on in their careers. 
	"It's a win-win situation," Wagner says. "We benefit from
their skills and knowledge, they benefit from work experience."
	Students frequently cite a convenient location, the importance
of practical job experience, and the flexibility of employers with
student schedules as reasons why UB is an excellent place to be a
student worker.
	Although Personnel Services has a general policy for student
work at UB, for the most part the hiring of students is decentralized.
Different areas of the university handle their student hiring in
different ways. 
	Peter Hanks, supervising human resources representative for
University Facilities, says that each area of Facilities has its own
budget for student assistance. "We advertise in The Spectrum,
interview people and hire who we need," Hanks says. Such hiring is
paid out of temporary service funds, Hanks says.
	John Rhoades, a 38-year-old returning student who came to UB
after earning a two-year degree at Erie Community College, has been
working in the University Facilities Budget Office. There he got a
hands-on opportunity to practice the skills in accounting and
information systems management that he has learned at UB.
	"Since I'm a business student, it's been very convenient, in a
number of ways, to do this kind of work," says Rhoades, who graduates
this spring. "I could apply very specifically the things I learned in
my classes, and working and going to school at the same location has
been helpful."
	Rhoades got his job by looking at the postings for on-campus
jobs in the office of Career Planning and Placement, and in The
Spectrum. "I just kept floating r
sum
s and eventually one of them struck," Rhoades says. "I had enough
background to step into the job and know what was going onQI already
knew the generalities, I just had to get some of the particulars."
	While school is in session, Rhoades can work no more than 20
hours a week, but he worked full time for University Facilities last
summer, he says. "They've been very cooperative in working with my
schedule," he says. "It's been a trade-off: the inconvenience of my
being a student who can't be at work sometimes has been balanced by
the fact that they get to work with someone who's already here and
who's simultaneously getting a good education in the area of his job.
	"I wanted to get a feel for what I had learned in my classes
in an actual accounting situation." Rhoades says. "I've learned a
great deal about office preparation, and how to handle the paperwork
that's the backbone of accounting."
	Students must qualify for the Federal Work Study program based
on financial need, according to Maureen Kanaley, senior financial aid
advisor for the Office of Student Finances and Records. If a student
is eligible for Work Study, and accepts the award, he or she is given
a list of eligible Work Study job sites on campus and sent out to find
a position, Kanaley says.
	Peggy Lane handles the student services section of the School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She is in charge of one of the
three areas of the department which have Work Study students. "The
Work Study office recently changed its procedure and so students are
now sent out to find Work Study jobs, instead of being assigned them
by the office," Lane says. "I have to do more screening of students
than I used to."
	Lane says that her department likes to hire engineering
students if they can. They do hire non-engineering students, she says,
but most students who apply to the department do so because they are
in engineering. The SEAS hires only students who are in good academic
standing, Lane says.
	"I look for students with some office skills, and who are
comfortable talking with other people, since they often have to handle
reception," Lane says. "We have student help for data entry, large
mailings, and a variety of other secretarial duties."
	Jennifer Clark has worked for the SEAS for the past several
semesters. She says she averages about 10 hours of work a week, along
with being enrolled in 15-18 hours of courses. Clark, who intends to
major in chemical engineering, with a minor in math and environmental
studies, says that being a work study student fits into her schedule
very well.
	"I don't feel overworked," Clark says, "although sometimes I
could use an extra hour or two to study more for my exams. But I do
most of my school work in the evening anyway." Working as a student
employee helps her fill in the time between classes while she's on
campus, Clark says. "I'm allowed to work around my schedule," she
says. "Work Study gives me a break, something to do that's different
from just taking classes.
	"Working on campus lets you find out a lot of the ins and outs
of your department," Clark adds. "You get to know your professors and
advisors."
	Rita Lipsitz, senior staff assistant in the English
Department, says that her department always tries to get as many Work
Study students as they can. "We usually get about two or three
students, four or five if we're lucky," Lipsitz says.
	"Once we send in our request to the Financial Aid Office, we
wait for the students to come in," Lipsitz says. "We talk to them, and
if it looks like they'll fit, we're delighted and we hire them. We can
always use more students to answer phones, do the mail, all the
routine things that have to be done in a department of this size. And
if we get a really good student, we'll often ask for them to be
reassigned to us."
	The way that Amy Epstein, an International Studies major who
works in the English Department, became a student employee says a lot
about the complex and varied circumstances under which students work
at UB. Epstein began by working with professors on The Women's
International Theater Company, and was transferred to the Work Study
program later. Now she works both for the ITC and the English
Department, averaging nearly 20 hours a week. But that workload has
not been burdensome, Epstein says, despite the fact that she's taking
18 credit hours of courses this semester.
	"Because I'm already on campus, there's no travel lag time in
getting to a job," Epstein says. "I work in between classes, when I'd
be on campus anyhow. So it really doesn't cut that much into the time
that I haveQI still play soccer twice a week, too. At five p.m., work
is over, and I can do my schoolwork at night."
	In terms of her on-the-job duties, Epstein says, "I really do
a whole network of things. Working on campus has helped me improve my
computer skills, my phone answering skills. It's a nice atmosphere,
and it's been a good experience for me."