Dice an innovator in assisting university, community
As she goes about her day, Roberta Dice paints a quiet but colorful portrait, blending details that bond the library with the university and community. An integral part of the Auraria Library since 1978, Dice is the Staff Council Outstanding Service to the Library recipient for 2006.
“Roberta has consistently contributed to the betterment of the university community by providing service above and beyond her daily job,” writes her nominator. “In doing so she has also assisted many co-workers, students, faculty and administrators in a personal way.”
Dice has worked in the Auraria Library Serials Service Department for the past several years and continues to volunteer on the Reference Desk. In serials, she is part of a team responsible for receiving magazines, encyclopedias, newspapers and micromedia, checking them in and, most important, tracking down any no-shows.
“When something stops coming we track it down,” Dice says. “We’re like bloodhounds—we make sure the university gets what it pays for.”
Dice graduated with a bachelor of anthropology from then UC Denver in 1976. She has gone on to take graduate courses in librarianship at the University of Denver, but notes her anthropology degree is helpful and relevant to her work at the library. “It’s an interdisciplinary major,” she stresses. “It involved diverse issues: linguistics, architecture, cultural anthropology and physical anthropology.”
A dedicated member of the university community, Dice is always thinking beyond the configuration of her job description to the greater good. In 1994, Dice and Mary Ellen Lewis of the Business School created “PhT”s for those “Putting Him (or Her) Through” an education. The “diploma” is a fund raiser offered to graduating students to give to their parents, spouses, grandparents, or other support systems. Over the past 12 years, the idea has earned the Alumni Association more than $10,000 for the general scholarship fund.
Dice was involved with Staff Council for two nonconsecutive terms—six years—through June of 2006. She served on the recognition committee, determining the names of employees receiving years of service awards and providing photos for the awards luncheon slideshow. Dice also was secretary of the council from July 2005.
For the past three years, Dice has been an important member of the Commencement Award Canvassing Committee, helping to seek out and qualify candidates for the University of Colorado Board of Regents annual awards. Using her library skills, Dice was not only able to determine top prospects and to help research candidates for other members on the committee.
Dice’s current work on the committee is an extension of earlier involvement, when she was instrumental in nominating Mabel Barth, founder of The Listening Post Inc., and Father Declan Madden for the Board of Regents Distinguished Service Award in 1990. The Listening Post is a safe place for students to talk to other folks who are trained and to listen and care in times of crisis.
Dice’s care and understanding for Auraria Campus students is deep and personal. She volunteers for campus phonathons to welcome new and transferring students to the university and the campus community. Having received her bachelor’s degree at age 32, she feels a kindred spirit with students.
“I appreciate their needs, desires and their concerns,” she says.