PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 24, No. 19, April 21, 2005

On the job: Reita Dalton

By Sarah Scalia, News Bureau Student Intern

Click photo to enlarge Photo by Kwame Ross Reita Dalton is an inventory specialist in the Psychology Building.

Reita Dalton has worked as an inventory specialist in the Psychology Building at the UI for the last 15 years. She grew up in the Champaign-Urbana area, and moved to New Mexico due to respiratory problems. While there, she took several undergraduate courses. After eight years her allergies still hadn’t cleared up, so Dalton decided to move back to Champaign to be closer to her family. Since that time, she’s taken on a lot of responsibilities, both at work and in various clubs, but family remains the most important part of her life.

Tell me about your job.
Basically the job has grown around me. I started out just doing a little bit of freight work and a little bit of inventory work. Everything else has just been piled on as the years go by. When somebody retires they aren’t replaced. When somebody gets different job duties, I get a few new ones. So it’s just an as-needed position.

Can you describe some of your daily responsibilities and what your job entails?
I manage incoming and outgoing freight and inventory. Biannually we have to locate the inventory as people move it from room to room and building to building. I am also the checkout person for the instructional equipment. Students and staff check equipment out for the classrooms that don’t come fully equipped. I also do the recycling for the building. And I handle the confidential paperwork that needs to be shredded.

Have you done any additional projects outside your job description?
I actually organized and coordinated the replanting of the atrium about 5 years ago. Our tree in there was so old it was falling out of that big planter because of the weight of it. So I talked with the horticulture department and they worked with their students for a fall and spring project. They didn’t have much of a budget, so our department split the cost to buy the plants while their students did the work. It really turned out gorgeous. Of course this building is 35 years old and I kind of take it on as a personal item – it’s like having your own home, you have things to maintain.

What have you learned while working here?
I found out that some of the scrap we send out, like an old desk, they take out to the fire training station and they set up an actual office. The stuff we’re disposing of is actually used to help save lives. I thought it was pretty interesting to learn that aspect of where our stuff is actually going because they don’t just take it out and bulldoze it.

Sometimes the students come down here to build some of the projects for doing research, or our staff helps them. For example, students had to build a puppet stage for things they can hold up to get a baby’s attention. Our staff will help build the stage part, and the students do the painting and decorating with colors to get the baby’s attention. They say a 6-month-old can do algebra – one of the professors in the infant lab actually has statistics on this.

What do you like best about your job?
The variety. I just have a fun job. The former secretary for our head said, ‘If you don’t know what to do with something, call Reita.’ That’s always been my final job description.

What do you find most challenging about your job?
The new Banner system. I bet it’s created six times the amount of work we used to have. I know it’s created that much more in paper because I do the recycling and I also furnish file cabinets, so I know the volume of paper has really multiplied with the Banner system.

Are you involved in any activities outside of work?
I’m not as involved in the PTA as I used to be because my child isn’t at that age level any more. If they were to call, I’d be there. But I do work a lot with the International Order of Odd Fellows in the Rebekah Lodge, which is the women’s division. I’ve been there for almost 25 years. Our organization started the DARE program and we’ve had the winning float in the Rose Bowl parade for the last three or four years. I’m the treasurer of part of the organization, and I’m the president of a different division. I also work as an election judge in Cunningham #1.

And of course family is a big part of my life. We’re planning a trip to Disney World this summer with my grandchildren, so that will be fun.

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