This ARO Spotlight is written by Renée Wilson, Records and Information Management Specialist at the Utah State Archives
My favorite aspect of any job position I’ve ever held has always been getting to know the incredible people I work with. One of those amazing people is Rosanne Ricks, internal auditor for the Utah Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM), who is retiring this month after an auspicious 40+ years of service to the State of Utah. Her retirement will be a great loss to myself and the state, but it will be a well deserved rest for her.
Rosanne has assisted and worked closely with the Utah State Archives over the years, so we’d like to pay tribute to her in this blog post. An additional special thanks goes to Rebecca Parr, who is DHRM’s Employment Labor Relations Director and Rosanne’s supervisor, for providing the content about Rosanne’s career.
Career
Rosanne started with the State of Utah in 1977. For much of her career, Rosanne provided human resource services to the Utah Department of Human Services (DHS). Of Rosanne, former DHS executive director Lisa Michele Church remarked:
Rosanne made me enjoy it just to be around her. I loved watching her in action, analyzing a situation but applying her special brand of compassion on top of her professionalism. She was super responsive and when I asked her for a project, it was done before I could even ask a second time. Rosanne was a jewel to work with and I miss her to this day.
Lisa Michele Church, former DHS Executive Director
In 2016, Rosanne was specially selected to serve as DHRM’s first internal auditor. In this role, Rosanne developed the DHRM internal audit program from scratch, studying and learning the techniques, rules, ethics, efficiences, and best practices of auditing as she worked through the process. She used her knowledge to craft a program in such a way that allowed her successor to efficiently and effectively move into the internal auditor role when she was finished.
Over the years, Rosanne has received numerous awards and bonuses for her stellar work and for going above and beyond what was asked of her. Her most recent award was the 2019 Governor’s Award for Excellence.
DHRM Retention Schedule Project
I first met Rosanne in 2017, when I became a RIM (records and information management) specialist, which was also when Rosanne was given the assignment to clean up DHRM’s retention schedules. Over the course of a year-and-a-half, we met via telephone at least once a week to discuss DHRM’s records and retention schedules. Each phone call usually lasted an hour, during which time we were able to discuss 2-4 schedules.
Rosanne’s extensive knowledge of DHRM’s mandates, functions, policies, practices, and personnel, as well as her professional knowledge of HR standards and best practices, made her especially effective as a records officer. If she didn’t know the answer to a question, she always knew the person who would.
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Additional Records Management Accomplishments
In addition to cleaning up the DHRM retention schedules, Rosanne also created a records handbook for DHRM employees and set up a resource folder and retention and destruction logs on their shared drive so future records officers will have one central place to find records management information and resources. Rosanne also regularly verified the DHRM records officer assignments and let us know of any updates.
One of Rosanne’s greatest contributions to records management was her assistance with updating the general retention schedules. Rosanne is exceptionally sharp, with a precise command of the English language. Many of the updates that the Utah State Archives made to general retention schedules over the past few years were a direct result of Rosanne pointing out inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the wording of a general retention schedule title or description. She has consistently provided valuable, logical feedback and suggestions.
Nickel Bet
During one of our phone meetings, Rosanne asked me whether “superseded” was spelled with a C or an S. I told her S, since I’d just had the same question earlier that week, but she bet me a nickel it was a C. A C does make more sense, because the word “ceded” is spelled with a C, but it turns out that “superseded” is spelled with an S. A few days after that conversation, I received in the mail a note with a nickel taped to it, which said:
Renée,
You won, I lost, and I always pay my bets!
Rosanne
Farewell, Rosanne!
We are forever grateful to Rosanne for her contributions to DHRM, the Utah State Archives, and records management in Utah. As a closing note, Rebecca Parr gave this accurate assessment of Rosanne’s retirement:
With Rosanne’s departure to a well-deserved retirement, the DHRM family will mourn the loss of a fiercely dedicated, committed, talented, experienced, skilled employee, and well respected, cherished colleague with tremendous institutional knowledge held by someone with a great memory for historical details she was never hesitant to share.
Rebecca Parr, DHRM’s Employment Labor Relations Director
We wish Rosanne all the best as she moves into this next exciting chapter of her life.