Our people: Working for the university

Karen Van Ruiten took a break from administrative duties at Eastern New Mexico University to raise three boys from 1998 to 2014, but when she returned, with a daughter to finish raising, she rose quickly.

She served as administrative secretary in ENMU's Financial Aid Department in 2014 and moved to Academic Affairs in 2016.

A year later, she became executive secretary to the president and Board of Regents, her current position, in which she plays a central role in keeping things organized and in compliance for both the new chancellor, James Johnston, and the regents.

She set aside some time on Thursday to talk with The News about her career and herself.

Here are our questions and her responses.

Q. You've been doing this job since 2017. What keeps you coming back?

A. I really love this job. There are so many interesting facets to this position. Every day is a new day. I never know what hoops I'm going to jump through. The people are interesting, and I love the pace of this job – multitasking on steroids every day. It's a very interesting position.

Q. You worked for ENMU in the 1990s, then took some time off to raise three sons and a daughter. Is that correct?

A. I worked at ENMU in the early '90s for Winston Cox, our executive director of University Relations and our lobbyist. I worked with him for several years. I took a hiatus to raise a family. I came back several years later. To get my foot in the door, I took a position in the Financial Aid Office. Everything I learned -- the skills I picked up in that office -- has translated well into my subsequent positions.

Q. What did you do in Financial Aid?

A. I coordinated all the student employees. I assisted students with financial aid question forms. I learned banner, our operating system. Learned federal rules and regulations dealing with financial aid, interacted with all the financial aid officers.

Q. And then you went to Academic Affairs...

A. I worked for Jamie Laurenz (vice president of Academic Affairs) from October 2016 to October 2017. That happened to be the year of our Higher Learning Commission report for our accreditation. It comes up every 10 years. That year was trial by fire. Most of that process is done through the Academic Affairs department. It was a pretty hard and heavy year.

Every job facilitates the next job.

Q. In that process, were there one or two things you could say you learned?

A. I've learned excellent record keeping, keeping accurate personnel files. That was at the forefront, along with the other requirements of the job.

Q. I'm picking up that you are an excellent organizer.

A. Even as a little kid, that's how my mind works -- very methodically. That has been a benefit to me over the years, especially now.

Q. What kinds of things do you do in your current job?

A. I have arranged for different internal searches for different positions. I make all logistical arranments. I do the logistical things for board meetings. Make sure we follow state protocol. I'm a people-handler of sorts, and I make sure the board members have comfortable accommodations for meetings.

Q. What has been your biggest challenge?

A. The biggest challenges was the presidential search. We had a water outage in town right in the the middle of the search while we had candidates on campus.

Q. How is the transition between chancellors going?

A. I've known Patrice Caldwell since the early 90s, when she was the dean of the College of Liberal Arts. She and I have had an ongoing friendship since those days. It was a privilege to have those years with her. She was a great mentor to me.

The transition to the new chancellor has been seamless. James Johnston is a very down-to-earth administrator. He's from this region. He understands the students on this campus. He's a first-generation college student like many students here. He can identify with them on a different level.

He's observing now to identify what goes on here.

Q. You have four children, who are grown. Where are they now?

A.Our oldest and youngest son live in the area. The oldest is an electrician on contract with ENMU, and the youngest has a heating, ventilation and air conditioning business. Our middle son lives in Katy, Texas, near Houston.

Our youngest, Katie, our daughter, is a senior at ENMU, but she lives in Red River. She did an internship with a resort company and they asked her to stay on after the internship, so she's working full-time there while completing her degree. She's graduating this semester, majoring in business administration.

She's living the dream. We're very outdoorsy, mountain people. She's right in the middle of all that.

Q.

And your husband?

A. My husband is an electrician. Comes from dairy farming. His father emigrated to California in 59. He bought a dairy in El Paso, then one in Dora, where my husband grew up. My husband has managed a couple of dairy farms. He has built a couple of dairies, and now he's an electrician. He works in refrigeration and other areas.

But he can't get away from the cows. He still loves the dairy business.

Q. You mentioned in your profile on the ENMU website that you wanted to devote more time to the piano. Is that still true?

A. In kindergarten, my parents started me on piano lessons. I took my last lesson as a senior in high school. I would like to immerse myself in that again.

Q. What other things do you like to do in your spare time?

A. I spend a lot of time on the weekends with my dad, who is 90.

My husband and I like to travel, and our grown kids seem to like to hang out with us.

I really love digging in the dirt, planting flowers and cultivating vegetables. In summer, I'm outdoors as much as possible.

I like to cook. I'm an experimental chef, now that the children are grown. Cooking for two is different than for the whole family.

Q. You said you are also an avid reader. What do you read about?

A. I've been stuck on World War II history since the third grade, when I saw a movie about the Holocaust. I have been watching a YouTube series called First Person in which they interview Holocaust survivors. I can't get it out of my system.

My husband's father is from Haarlem in The Netherlands, where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis. I never talked to my father-in-law about that time. I've had conversations with other friends and family about that time. It's not something they like to talk about.

Q. What has changed at ENMU since you started working here?

A. It's an interesting history. When I worked in the administrative office we put out a weekly newsletter called the Monday Memo. Everything was on paper. There was no electronic anything. It would be two or three sheets of paper that we would staple together and send out to the departments. Now it's all electronic and another department does it.

So many other things have changed. When Steven Gamble was president ( from 2001 to 2017), he moved forward with capital projects – improving buildings, building new facilities and improving the physical appearance of the campus.

Scott Smart, who just retired as chief financial officer, had a big part in that, using General Obligation Bond money. He kept the campus up-to-date. Students from throughout New Mexico want to come here now.

Q. Have students changed?

A. I grew up in gentler time. Kids could jump on their bikes at 9 a.m. and not come home 'til dinner time. Kids today are different from the ground up. Electronics are their world. They sit at their computers and do their degrees that way. With us, it was books, notebooks and the library.

One of my kids asked me how we studied when we were growing up. I said, "Well, by going to the library." He answered, "Why would you go there?"

Q. In your profile on the ENMU website from 2017, you are shown with a dog. Do you still have that dog?

A. Lady? Yes we do. She has captured our hearts and the hearts of anyone who meets her. She's a full-blooded Cocker spaniel.