When Marilyn Baker started working in human resources — then called personnel — for the Department of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, she would draw up timesheets and photocopy them on heavy-weight paper for hourly employees to scrawl down their daily start and stop times.
“I would do everything by hand, adding and subtracting right there on the timecard, and keep their running total,” said Baker, the department’s financial administration coordinator.
This month, Baker marks 45 years with IU. She started on Oct. 10, 1979, in a secretarial position with IUPUI (now IU Indianapolis) and soon took a promotion to her current role with the Department of Pediatrics. During her time of service, she’s seen four chancellors, five IU School of Medicine deans and three department chairs.
To many in the Department of Pediatrics, Baker serves as a wealth of institutional history and resources.
“Other than a few people I engaged with during my interview process, Marilyn was the first person I met when I came to IU years ago,” said Bradly Burbage, MS, the department’s vice chair of administration. “She became my go-to when I had a question — sometimes when the topic wasn’t even her area of responsibility. She has always had a way of getting things done and finding answers.”
When asked what kept her at IU School of Medicine all those years, Baker replied, “I know my job, and I enjoy it. So, why would I want to go anywhere else?”
The longest Baker has ever taken off from work was a few months’ maternity leave when each of her two sons were born. In the early years, Baker also helped her husband, Ray, in their family landscaping and snow removal business.
“When we first got married, I would plow snow at night, then go to work in the morning,” Baker said. “I can operate all kinds of heavy equipment. We had tractors and excavators, a skid steer and a front-end loader.”
During her 45 years on the Indianapolis campus, Baker has watched several new buildings rise, including the medical library, Campus Center, Walther Hall and its attached research buildings, several parking garages, and medical facilities including the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital, the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and an expansion to Riley Hospital for Children, where the pediatrics department was housed until its recent move to Fesler Hall.
“I can’t believe how much bigger the campus has gotten,” she said.
Baker grew up on the south side of Indianapolis and graduated from Southport High School, where she was on the secretarial track and studied accounting. She briefly worked for a company in Indianapolis before landing the university position.
“When I applied, it was based on how fast you could type,” she said. “The documents were typed on the typewriter with five different carbon copies on it. If you made a mistake, you had to start all over again. That was miserable.”
Technology has advanced to the point that Baker now works fully remote.
“I never worked from home until COVID hit,” she said. “I never dreamed of it, never ever.”
Along with technology, Baker has seen the standards for professional attire evolve.
“Until a few years back, we would always dress up for work,” she said. “I remember wearing a dress and pantyhose every day to the office.”
When Baker joined the pediatrics department, she was one of just two employees in “personnel.” When the other one left, Baker was on her own for a while.
“I had never done any academic hires; I was more staff and hourly, not faculty,” she said. “That was a good challenge for me.”
Later in her career, Baker helped the department through a transition to dual employment for faculty working at IU School of Medicine and IU Health. Teresa Shearer, a human resources business partner in pediatrics, said Baker has always gone “above and beyond” to help the team.
“She navigates any payroll challenges with such professionalism and grace," Shearer said.
As the Department of Pediatrics has grown, so has the scope of Baker’s work.
“Pediatrics has become such a large department — the second largest at IU School of Medicine — but almost everyone here knows or at least recognizes Marilyn’s name as someone who has been here since the beginning,” said Paige Hummel Ramion, MBA, associate director of human resources. “While some appreciate her simply as a testament to the longevity of the department and its employees, others appreciate Marilyn because of her dedication, strong work ethic and positive mindset.”
Baker met the current chair, Wade Clapp, MD, when he was fresh out of medical school and starting his residency in pediatrics. She has enjoyed watching his career develop at the School of Medicine and as an internationally recognized physician scientist advancing treatment for neurofibromatosis.
Baker’s enjoyment at work has been enhanced by close friendships with her coworkers.
“I had three other ladies I worked with for several years,” Baker said. “I was the baby in the office, starting in my early 20s. We all got close — more than friends, like sisters.”
Those women — Glenna Guthrie, Kathy Appledorn and Carol Baumheckel — have all since retired. Baker said she will likely join them before long. She wants to spend more time with her three grandchildren.
Baker’s colleagues in the Department of Pediatrics will certainly miss her. Her advice to whomever takes over her role in financial administration is to simply live by the golden rule: “Just treat others the way you would like to be treated.”
