Ryczaj and her team of two part-time staffers and several student employees answer up to calls a week from all over the world — but mostly from Pitt students and their parents. Ryczaj has only seen that old equipment when it was used in a piece of art on display once in the Cathedral of Learning.
We try to treat every caller as a guest. The first voice that a caller hears is our team. The first impression we give is important. They just want to speak to someone. And they are grateful we get them connected. Connection changes everything. Callers will call back and thank us.
Yes, sometimes people call prepared to yell about a problem, real or perceived. They may be upset that Pitt has a controversial speaker, or that a certain type of research is being done here. We just have to listen — emphasizing that we are here for you.
It sort of settles the caller down. We get them connected to the people who can help. It takes a team. The team is seriously strong.
We know when we have a bad moment we are there to support each other. And there are the moments to celebrate — when callers tell her they had been vacillating between Pitt and another college, but will now choose Pitt, simply because they were able to reach a human.
