Paula Marcoux started working at McMaster as a 15-year-old co-op student. And she never really left.

Marcoux is the longest-serving staff member in the Faculty of Science’s department of Mathematics & Statistics: 32 years — and that’s not even counting the co-op or summer jobs.

Marcoux’s Grade 10 business class at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School offered co-ops, so she signed on for a placement in the dean’s Office in the Faculty of Science.

After her co-op ended, she stuck around in the faculty, spending four summers working as an assistant secretary in the office of the associate dean of Science Studies while finishing high school and earning a diploma in executive office administration at Mohawk College.

In 1992, the newly graduated Marcoux joined the Mathematics & Statistics as an office administrator. On her first day, someone gave her a bit of advice: Be a good team player.

Today, Marcoux is an academic program advisor, and is happy to report that advice still holds true.

It helps if you’re part of a good team.

“I’ve been blessed and honoured to have worked alongside so many incredible people,” she says, and starts listing them.

It’s a long list.

Another great part of her job: Work is never dull. “Our jobs are always evolving, so you’re constantly learning something new.”

Marcoux’s been part of some milestone changes in the department, including the move to Hamilton Hall from the Burke Science Building.

She’s also seen the department grow over the decades — it now has the most graduate students in the Faculty, and undergraduate enrolment is second only to that in the School of Earth, Environment & Society.

But is there anything that hasn’t changed over 32 years?

“Our dedication to each and every one of our students,” Marcoux says. “We’re so incredibly proud of them.”

On Sept. 27, Marcoux joined alumni and colleagues past and present to celebrate the department’s 80th anniversary. To mark the occasion, a bursary has been established for students in financial need.

Along with guest speakers from Western, Waterloo and the University of Toronto, the celebration included a panel discussion on the department and its history.

And if any panelists had needed a fact-check, Marcoux was there.