Rachel McGathy will be retiring March 31 after almost 26 years of service in the Financial Affairs Division. She was hired as an accountant in student accounts in 1998, then transferred to the Controller's Office, where she took on ownership of many special projects and responsibilities in BASIS, our legacy ERP. Eventually, she joined the UAF Workday Implementation Team in 2018, acting as a representative of UAF and providing customer service to the finance users on campus since then.

"I have always felt blessed to work in financial affairs, where I have spent a lot of time providing customer service to the campus community. Working at my alma mater has given me a chance to give back to the institution that gave me so much — a career, a work family and friends, and a sense of accomplishment. I'm very grateful for all those who have supported my efforts over the years."

"I've worked with Rachel for over 25 years, and she will definitely be missed," said Michael White, associate vice chancellor for financial affairs. "Rachel is always the one person that will take on virtually any task and figure it out. She is undoubtedly the one person with the most wide-ranging and deep understanding of just how things work on this campus from a business process perspective and just as importantly, the reasons why they work the way they do. Those qualities, coupled with her tenacity, are why I recruited her to the campus Workday implementation team."

There will be a reception to celebrate McGathy's retirement from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, March 29, in the downstairs breakroom at Uptown East.