Duke by the Numbers: Tenure of Current Duke Employees

When Abby Krichman arrived at Duke in 1979, she wasn't planning to stay long.

"I came for a post-graduate internship in respiratory therapy, and I expected to leave when it was done," she said.

Thirty one years later, she's still at Duke.

Krichman is part of a unusual segment of Duke's population: she is among the nearly 1,400 faculty and staff at the University and Health System with 30 to 39 years of service. Another 315 employees have been here 40 or more years, and many have been here long enough to recall when Terry Sanford, former governor of North Carolina, became president of Duke in 1969.

"Employees with long institutional memories bring great value to Duke, and we all benefit from their accumulated wisdom," said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for Duke Human Resources.

Krichman, now manager of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Center, has enjoyed many different roles at Duke, from direct patient care and supervising in respiratory therapy, to teaching and now clinical research.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I can't believe I've been here this long," she said. "There have been so many opportunities within Duke that I just never felt the need to go anywhere else."

Career opportunity continues to attract new employees like Tara Williams, an administrative assistant in the School of Medicine's Office of Appointments, Promotions and Tenure. She is among the 3,939 hired in 2009, a year marked by economic turmoil but also advances like the opening of Duke's 10th school, the Sanford School of Public Policy.

Born and raised in Durham, Williams longed to work at Duke ever since completing summer internships at the School of Medicine in 2000 and 2001.

"The benefits are great, and it is such a great working environment," said Williams, who is 27. "It took nearly a year for me to find a job here because of the economy, but now I hope to stay until I retire."