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R. Steve Dick/University Relations

Betty Otto has been a record specialist with the KU Alumni Association for more than 40 years. Always the record keeper, she even got her camera out to document the occasion of herself being photographed for Campus Closeup.

CAMPUS CLOSEUPBetty Otto - Records specialist, KU Alumni Association

Years at current job: 43 as of Feb. 3, 2008.

Job duties: Updating alumni records, recording KUAA memberships, answering telephone inquiries.

You have been with KU more than 40 years. What is the key to your longevity? Loving what I do and the love of KU.

The Alumni Association has had several homes during your tenure. How has the association evolved over the years? Going from three rooms in Strong Hall-Room 126 with paper records and stencil plates to a three story building with approximately 50 rooms and our own personal computers.

The association has records on people who attended KU, but what other unique information is on record? We record business information, marriages, children, awards and news information that can be published in the Kansas Alumni Magazine.

What are the most commonly requested records? Information on other alumni.

What do you enjoy most about your profession? Meeting alumni that have returned for reunions or just dropping by to update their record.

Have you had a chance to meet any of KU's notable alumni? Yes. I have met the Former Governor Robert Docking, Gale Sayers, Frank Pattee, Bill Hougland, Buddy Rodgers, Craig Stevens, and Wes Santee.

What are some aspects of your job others might not realize you're involved with? Putting the second photo album together that the late Mildred Clodfelter left to the office. Once a year I am in charge of displaying the Class Banners in the Ballroom of the Student Union for the All University Dinner.

Something that I am very proud of is being instrumental in getting the Old North College Clock back to KU from Martha Relph in Oklahoma. The clock is now housed in the Conference room of the Student Housing Dept. The clock was given to KU from Harvard or Yale as a gift when KU first opened its doors for the first time in the late 1800s.

NOTABLE ALUMS

Roseann Runte, a French scholar who earned her doctorate at KU, is the new president - and first woman executive - of Carleton University, Canada's "capital university" in Ottawa. A dual resident of the U.S. and Canada, she was previously president of Old Dominion University. She also is president of the American Council of Education's Commission on International Education and a member of the International Parliament of Cultures.