March 18, 2026
Debbie Day, a program administrator for SCI, has officially retired after 18 years working at Pitt.
Through Day’s work as a program administrator, she helped to support multiple program and department chairs, while assisting students on their journeys toward becoming librarians, archivists, and information professionals.
Day worked to help many schoolwide committees and other important Pitt institutions such as the former School of Information Science Council, Planning and Budgeting Committee, Academic Council, faculty searches, and much more. Her other responsibilities were to support the Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship (ICDS), where Day revised the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree program in 2018, along with her other duties, such as looking at grade reviews each term, answering student questions or helping with orientation and graduation.
Day explained her proudest moments from all this work came from seeing students graduate and succeed every term.
“Knowing that I was helping others to become helpers themselves was very fulfilling,” Day said. “It is very rewarding to see how so many of the students have advanced in their careers and see some of the very interesting positions they have ascended to.”
Day said she has gained indispensable skills of being able to adapt for success through her time at Pitt as a Program Administrator.
“Things were always changing– new systems, new procedures, new people, new policies, new students with varying needs,” Day said. “Each chair had their own management style, so you had to be flexible and adaptable. The ability to learn quickly and keep moving toward the ultimate goal, which was to support our students, is a skill that I can carry with me through all types of situations.”
Day’s journey to Pitt began in State College, Pennsylvania, where she owned and operated a business making flags, banners, and custom embroidery. Some of these flags even made their way onto two separate Space Shuttle missions and onto an expedition to the South Pole. Then, Day began to get interested in her family history and genealogy, visiting a small public library in Steubenville, Ohio, where she began to research these topics. There, Day decided that her future would lie in the library.
“I decided that I wanted to become a librarian and work in a library with a genealogy section,” Day said. “I sold my embroidery machine, shut down my business, and I found the online MLIS program at Pitt, called the FastTrack, applied, was accepted and started my program of study in the summer of 2005 as part of the fifth cohort of students in the Fast Track.”
After graduating in the fall semester of 2007, Day served as a teaching assistant for Dr. Chris Tomer and Dr. Sue Alman, two of the founders of the Fast Track program, before being called about a new position that would include administrative help for both the MLIS and telecommunications program.
“We didn’t have departments back then. I applied, interviewed and was hired,” Day said. “Since that time, I have worked for about 11 different programs or department chairs.”
Day said, in her retirement, one of the things she will miss most is the people at SCI, including the staff, faculty, and students she encountered during her years at Pitt.
“The staff of this school has always been so supportive of and helpful to each other which makes it an enjoyable place to work,” Day said.
Ten days into her retirement, Day fell and injured her hip which required a full hip replacement. Since then, Day has been focused on recovery, but she is still looking forward to the joys of retirement.
“Once I recover, we have a few trips planned for the summer and a few outdoor projects planned for our home,” Day said. “I am also trying to get back to my family genealogy. Aside from that, just having the freedom to randomly decide to do something or go somewhere with my husband and not have to worry about taking vacation time off work is going to be fun.”
Day plans to continue her involvement in the MLIS program during retirement, by supervising MLIS students in field experiences. Even with the end of this chapter, the lessons and experiences Day has taken from SCI will stay with her forever.