After nearly 13 years of service to College of Western Idaho (CWI), Debbie Jensen has announced her retirement. For nearly a decade, Jensen has worked in Facilities Management and Planning coordinating electronic and key access for the College, an important component of keeping our campus safe. Her responsibilities have included programming the electronic doors, granting individual’s access, distributing keys, and keeping all files pertaining to access and keys up-to-date and accurate – all of which she has done with a high degree of integrity.
Prior to CWI, Jensen was employed by Boise State University for 15 years where she was privileged to assist in the creation of the College of Engineering and became the Management Assistant for the first Dean of Engineering. She later transferred to Boise State’s Canyon County Center and worked as the Management Assistant for the Executive Director, Dennis Griffin for several years. While working for Griffin, she was involved in the creation and building of Boise State West, now known as College of Western Idaho’s Nampa Campus Academic Building.
In 2007, Jensen was the first person to join Griffin, CWI’s first President, as his Executive Assistant. She served in this role until he retired in 2009. As one of the seven founding members of CWI, she served on the President’s Executive Team participating in the exciting and challenging task of creating the College from scratch and is one of the last original members still working at CWI.
“It was a leap of faith for Debbie to leave BSU and become part of this adventure,” Dennis shared, “but she proved to be a valuable member of my team.”
Prior to her move to Facilities, Jensen was the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of Information Technology for two years. Facilities was under Information Technology (IT) at the time, so along with her IT duties, she also worked with building access and keys.
Jensen’s family is very important to her. She enjoys spending time with her three sons, twin daughters, eight (almost nine) grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Her pastimes include reading, sewing, doing genealogy, and enjoying the great outdoors.
“I have worked side-by-side with Debbie my entire time at CWI,” said Jeff Flynn, Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Management. “I don’t even know where to start, but can definitely say there will be a void not having Debbie as part of our daily operations here at the College. As stated above, there is really nothing Debbie hasn’t been involved in during her 13 years at CWI. She was not just a go-to person for myself and the Facilities team but for many when it came to her institutional knowledge. Debbie’s dedication to CWI and her co-workers is unmatched, and while I am excited for Debbie and this next phase of her life, she will be missed. Congratulations, Debbie! I look forward to seeing what this next phase of your life brings. Cheers to you!”
Jensen’s last day at the College is Friday, May 15.