Santa Fe College said goodbye to Janet Foster on Tuesday, who had worked for the college for 14 years.
About 20 Santa Fe faculty members, professors and friends gathered in a small classroom to bid their farewells. A white iced cake with the words “Janet, we will miss you,” and cards laid on a table in the middle of the room. Soft music played in the background as people ate, drank sodas and chatted.
Foster said she wished she could keep working at Santa Fe, but for health reasons, she had to retire. She said she also wanted to be able to support her parents, who are in their early 90s.
Math department chairwoman Kathleen Arnold said Foster was very helpful when she began working as chairwoman.
“(Foster) always goes out of the way to help the people around her — she’s very kind hearted,” Arnold said.
Foster started working as the administrative assistant to the mathematics department in 2005. Prior to that, she served under the former associate vice president for liberal arts and sciences.
Foster said her love for the field came from knowing the importance of math.
“A lot of people think math is not going to be any good to them some day,” Foster said. But for people like her, she said, math is a necessary tool in everyday life.
Foster said what she enjoyed the most during her time working at Santa Fe was helping students and getting involved with their activities on campus.
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 2/4/2015 under the headline “Santa Fe says goodbye to professor after 14 years"]
