Francine Shafer, Associate Director of MPAcc and MST programs, retires

It’s hard to imagine life in MPAcc or MST without Francine Shafer around to keep it all in order, but after 45 years working for the UW, and the last 24 of those years here with the graduate accounting degree programs, Francine has traded in her double-screen monitor for knitting needles and mystery novels.

Francine Shafer, born Francine Chinn, grew up in Seattle, then Montana, then North Dakota, and finally Renton, where she graduated from high school. She went on to Highline Community College and then transferred to WSU where she graduated in Elementary Education. Luckily for us, there were no teaching jobs at that time, so in 1973 she started working at the UW in graduate admissions.

Along the way she married Kent Shafer in 1980 and had her daughter, Seneca, in 1989 (Foster Marketing Grad, 2012). After various jobs with the UW, she moved to the MBA office in 1982, and started taking night courses at Seattle University until she earned her MBA from there in 1988.

Since 1994, Francine has been managing, advising and directing for the Master in Accounting programs. She has knitted countless baby blankets for newborns of alumni. She even had a stint as a Teaching Assistant for both of the introductory accounting classes, ACCTG 215 and 225. Faculty, staff, students, and even deans have found Francine indispensable.

Happy retirement, Francine! You have earned it.