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If there ever was a Hokie through and through, its Nora Kirstein.

During her time at Virginia Tech, she has

Kirstein, applications analyst within the Division of Information Technology, will retire July 1, after 42 years of service. I have been affiliated with Virginia Tech in almost every way possible, she said.

While a student, Kirstein worked as a wage employee and as a graduate teaching assistant and participated in Phi Beta Kappa. As an employee, shes worked full- and part-time roles, as a supervisor, and, in her words, a regular worker bee. As alums, the Kirsteins are active in the Department of Computer Science community to this day. And, as proud parents, they have seen their children experience Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, the D.C. area, and at the Steger Center for International Scholarship in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland.

Kirsteins computing career began by accident. During her senior year in high school in Alexandria, she took a computer programming class just to fill an elective.

It literally changed my life, said Kirstein. We had a teletype machine with a punched tape feed connected to the school systems mainframe. It looked so exotic something we saw on TV but would never type on ourselves.

Programming came naturally to her, as did teaching it. I would finish an assignment early, and students would come to me for help when the teacher was busy. I was good at helping them work through their problems without writing the code for them.

Before that class, Kirstein hadnt planned on going to college. After discovering her aptitude and interest in programming, she now had a reason to go. With some help from her guidance counselor, she found her way to Virginia Tech. First, this dedicated woman arranged for me to visit with programmers at Langley, the headquarters for the CIA another amazing thing one only saw in the movies. Then, she pointed me toward Virginia Tech as the place to go for technical degrees, and she mapped out a path for me to get here.

Kirstein earned her bachelor's degree in computer science at Virginia Tech in 1979 and her masters degree in 1986.

Initially, Kirstein went to work for Control Data Corporation, but she returned to Virginia Tech just two years later. My full-time jobs have all been with the finance team, but over the years our group has been part of the Accounting Office, the Controllers Office, and finally the Division of ITs Enterprise Systems unit, she said.

When I reflect on Noras contributions to Enterprise Systems, what comes to mind are her passion for Virginia Tech, her dedication to excellent service, and recognition of her vital role in the support and innovation of technology for the financial operations of the university. She has always exemplified the critical balance of stability and innovation in all her work that is the essence of enterprise applications, said Deborah Fulton, who led Enterprise Systems for over a decade.

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Nora Kirstein to retire after 42 years in information technology at Virginia Tech - Virginia Tech