Anna Robbins Celebrates 50 Years at Rider
Each year, another class of Rider graduates leaves, having navigated past Gee Hall thousands of times without much knowledge of the name that graces the front of the student residence. Even the few who discover, during their time on the Lawrenceville campus, that the building was named to honor Bernice Gee likely have a hard time imagining Rider’s longtime treasurer as someone accessible beyond the sepia-toned memories of the University’s past.
To Anna Robbins, however, Bernice Gee is as real as the residence hall that bears her name. It was Gee, whose career at Rider began in 1917 – in the middle of World War I when Babe Ruth was still a young pitcher for the Boston Red Sox – who hired Robbins into the Rider community in 1959 as an eager clerical worker who had just graduated form Trenton Central High School.
Today, Robbins – now Rider’s bursar – still brings the same enthusiasm to her job each day that she did 50 years ago. And while she’s seen her share of progress, one thing that remains unchanged is her commitment to student service, the very thing that motivates her most.
“I’ve always taken life as it has come, and I’ve evolved that way. Working here is still exciting for me from one year to another,” Robbins said. “I done a variety of jobs over my time here, and I’ve never cared what the role was, as long as I was with the students. Rider is student-centered, and so am I.”
Rider was a different place when Robbins began work. In fact, it was in a different place. Still in the process of moving full operations from Trenton to Lawrenceville when she interviewed in 1959, Robbins said she met with Gee in a large building on East State Street, and was immediately impressed with the finer details.
“I sat in this big leather chair, and I felt so important just being there. I thought, ‘This is the place for me,’” she recalled. While a leather chair may seem otherwise ordinary, Robbins had only arrived in the United States three years earlier, after moving with her family from their native Ukraine to Germany to France and finally, to the United States when she was 15. Without the ability to speak English, Robbins and her family settled in Trenton when she was 15. Just three years later, she walked the lengthy distance from the family home across town to interview that day with Gee.
“When it was over, she told me, ‘Thank you, we’ll be in touch,’” said Robbins, who intuitively knew she had found a new home. “We had no phone and no car, I had just walked across the city to get there, and I couldn’t bear waiting at home by the mailbox. So, I said to Bernice Gee, ‘If you want me to work here, you have to tell me now!’ Can you believe my audacity?”
The way Robbins remembers, Gee was a little flustered by the teen’s boldness, but after a few minutes of consultation with other Rider staffers, offered Robbins the job. “The rest is history,” she said.
Genuinely thankful for each of the 50 years hence, Robbins was immediately charged with some serious responsibilities. “I began right away in management – I was in charge of paper clips and envelopes,” she quipped.
Since then, Robbins, who began working on the Lawrenceville campus in 1962, has seen the institution literally transformed, and credits the University as much as anything else for her own development – both professional and personal. “I had always thought that college was only for the beautiful, smart and the rich,” said Robbins, whose father mined coal in Europe. “But working here, I saw not only that taking courses and earning an education could help my job improvement, but the people here could make me better, too. So many people had such an important effect on my life.”
With the encouragement of her supervisors, Robbins eventually began to take classes specific to her interests before targeting them toward a bachelor’s degree, which she earned in 1980. “If you wanted to go to school, our management was very accommodating,” said Robbins, who would take classes when she could, whether at 8 a.m., lunchtime or after work hours.
She admits that while 50 years is a long time to spend with a single employer, others would be surprised at how quickly it passes when you’re content. “I’m not only fortunate, but blessed,” she said. “The old saying about how time flies when you’re having fun? It’s so true. My supervisors have been the best – past and present – so it’s really no surprise.
Surprising or not, Robbins is approaching uncharted territory at Rider. “Apparently, I’m only the second employee anyone can recall passing 50 years,” said Robbins, who only became aware of the significance after being interviewed by The Rider News, the University’s student newspaper. According to Dr. Walter Brower ’48, the retired dean of education and the University historian, Robbins trails only Harold West, who began as a penmanship instructor in the early 20th century and worked for 56 years, in longevity.
Working in the business office of Memorial Hall since arriving in Lawrenceville, Robbins has gone from a payroll manager to assistant bursar before being named bursar in 1987. For all the advances – technological, organizational or otherwise – that she’s witnessed on campus, it’s still easy to wax nostalgic for the Rider of yesteryear. “We have online registration today, and it’s quick and easy and everyone loves it,” said Robbins, who has worked for four presidents since coming to Rider. “But I remember having registration in the gym, and the bursar wearing roller skates to speed from one line to the next, taking care of students. What fun!”
The joy of such silliness, Robbins explains, was always rooted in getting the job done for students, a mission she continues to cherish. “I hope that some of the students will remember me the way I recall some of the people who have had an impact on my life,” she said. “Because I’ve got such fond, fond memories.”
