Linda Mahloch loves opera, and has traveled the world in search of great performances.
LeAnn Messing is most at home in her garden, elbow deep in dirt.
Both are equally happy at work as at play, and together they possess 75 years of professional experience in UNL’s English department. It is a staggering amount of shared history and institutional knowledge.
Technological leaps –the shift from typewriters and a clunky phone system to computers and email – and a changing and diversifying student body have marked their tenure in the College of Arts and Sciences. Messing, the department’s office supervisor, remembers students organizing Vietnam War protests when she began working on campus. Today, both women are amazed at the range of students, staff and faculty they come in contact with on a daily basis.
Mainly, the two women are grateful to have jobs that they love.
"The people I work with are all outstanding employees," said Mahloch, business manager for the department. "They are very professional and good at what they do, and that of course makes the department look good."
Messing echoes this sentiment.
"Everybody chips in around here, this is a great department to work in," she said. "In addition to faculty and administrators, right now we have the best group of support staff we’ve ever had. You can count on them to always help when needed. We’ve got the cream of the crop."
Over the years, Messing and Mahloch have also forged close ties with colleagues in other departments.
"One danger in a very big department is that you tend to get isolated, focused in, and think, ‘We’re it,’" Mahloch said. "It’s really important to get out to the broader university to see how things work. When you get together with a group of people and start throwing out ideas, very often you’ll come up with a way to change procedures or processes."
Of course, their most enduring professional relationship is with each other. The women think of themselves as Lucy and Ethel, and they manage to squeeze a fair amount of goofiness and enjoyment into their busy workdays.
"We have a lot of fun," Mahloch said. "Some people say we remind them of an old married couple; we talk over each other, and can read each others’ minds."
Through floods in the building, communications upgrades, staffing changes and a few ill-advised escapades, Mahloch and Messing remain beloved and reliable fixtures in the English department.
When it comes to the comparison with two beloved sitcom stars, who’s who?
"She’s Lucy, I’m Ethel," Messing said. "We’re always jumping right in and doing things, even at times when it probably isn’t the best idea. Linda hired me to supervise the office in 1973. She’s guided me along the way, teaching me all kinds of things. To work with someone that long, and still work well together is amazing."
