Susan Athey started her career at Colorado State in 1988 and has enjoyed every moment since. This year, however, she is celebrating her retirement after over 28 years with the University.
Athey earned her bachelor’s degree at Virginia Tech, then moved to beautiful Fort Collins to pursue her MBA at CSU. Following her masters, she moved to Tucson to get her Ph.D. in Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona.
After spending a couple years at Oregon State, Athey returned to CSU as Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems in the College of Business. For a few years, she was also Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the college.
Celebrate! CSU Milestones
Colorado State University employees achieving a decade of service or more this year and retirees will be honored at the annual Celebrate! CSU Milestones event Tuesday, May 2, at 4 p.m. in the LSC Grand Ballroom.
The adventure of teaching
For Athey, being a professor at CSU was all about the students. She felt that she could even learn from them. “Students have done the most amazing things by the time they come to college,” she said. Students’ motivation and interest in the field continually inspired her.
Athey also enjoyed working with great people throughout the University. She was able to make great connections and friendships due to the incredible energy of everyone in the CSU community. “It was hard not to,” she said.
As another advantage, Athey enjoyed being able to take sabbatical leaves to teach and explore the world. Throughout her career, she was able to travel to Australia, Germany, Portugal, Vietnam and Bhutan to spread her knowledge abroad.
Looking back
As an avid Rams fan, Athey has a great memory of the team going to the 1990 Freedom Bowl. She and her husband traveled to Anaheim, California, to cheer on the Rams as they took on the Oregon Ducks. Athey remembers the way the two green-and-gold teams lit up the field and gave it their all. A Rams win was just the cherry on top of an amazing experience.
She also remembers how different her field was when she was beginning. With the advancement of technology, programming has become much more progressive. In college, she would have to wait long amounts of time to check programs, whereas today’s technology allows it to be a nearly instantaneous process.
Plans to unwind
Athey plans to spend her retirement submerged in her favorite hobbies, one of which is working on her family genealogy. She is fascinated by what she can learn from digging into the past.
Traveling is laso on her list. Though she has spent much of her life experiencing different places all over the world, she is looking forward to traveling during her free time. Athey and her husband are currently planning a 9-month trip around the world, which will begin in September.
While exploring will be a great way for Athey and her husband to celebrate the ending of her accomplished career, their ultimate goal is to unwind in the place they know best: Fort Collins.
“Colorado is my favorite… It is hard to pass up a place where the sun is out even in the winter,” said Athey.
