Annandale Scheduling Officer, Barbara Divers, Retires after 20 Years

With mixed feelings, the Annandale Campus congratulates Scheduling Officer Barbara Divers on her retirement at the end of March. Provost Pam Hilbert says she has “very much appreciated the professional work and helpful attitude of Barbara and will miss her greatly!”

Barbara began working at NOVA as a part time program support assistant for Speech and Drama Assistant Chair Nan Peck in May, 2000. A few months later, she was hired full-time as assistant for Art, Music, Philosophy and Religion. Barbara said Duncan Tebow was the Assistant Chair and had been her Art teacher at NOVA back in the early 1970s!  Barbara became the acting space coordinator to “wrangle spaces and oversee schedule entry,” in 2006 and during spring 2008 course development, the campus proposed a pilot for a single schedule entry person. Barbara explained that she worked along side of the campus enrollment manager and has been entering the schedule for most disciplines since then.

Barbara’s colleagues shared the following thoughts:
“I have appreciated Barbara’s willingness to work with those new to the scheduling process in such a patient, calming, and positive way. She was always understanding when the processes were new, unchartered or confusing. She has an incredibly poised demeanor, as well as an impressive and efficient work ethic.”

“Barbara was always responsive, always reliable, never cranky or short-tempered (always even-tempered), very knowledgeable, extremely helpful.  Scheduling help was always prompt and well done – with a smile.”

“It was a joy to work with Barbara Divers.”

“Barbara is competent, kind, intelligent, dedicated, calm, and incredibly hard-working. No matter how many times we contacted her with schedule changes or issues related to a room reservation, she was always helpful and  never flustered or upset, even if she had every reason to be annoyed.”

“Her professionalism was admirable and she quietly worked miracles for the campus. One sign of her exceptional abilities was the fact that she was recruited to help with scheduling and space issues when the Woodbridge campus had the flood in one of their buildings. She was always willing to help and I will always remember her kindness.”

Barbara commented on leaving when the college is teleworking, saying, “I applied to NOVA after seeing a job posting in the newspaper. I had to learn to use a computer back then, and now everything is computer based, even good-byes!

But, it is not good-bye, Barbara, just a move to your next phase of life which we hope will be peppered with visits to NOVA. Best Wishes!