I Spy: June Barfield made her home at CCU
When Conway native June Barfield came to Coastal Carolina University in 1986, Coastal was still a part of the University of South Carolina system. She plans to retire at the end of 2016, but over the past 31 years, she has had the opportunity to watch CCU blossom into the major institution it is today.
“The growth that the University has had since I’ve been here is mind boggling,” said Barfield, who has been the supervisor for procurement services since 1998. “I’ve been humbled to be a part of it."
Barfield was hired by Stella Cooper to work in financial services at CCU, where she worked for 12 years before moving to procurement services. She and Cooper remain good friends.
“I always appreciated the fact that she gave me the opportunity to come here to Coastal,” said Barfield. “I was honored by the faith she had in me more than 30 years ago so that I got to experience working here.”
Barfield had other administration positions before coming to Coastal, including one at the Horry County probate judge’s office, but she never had a job that made her feel the way she does about CCU.
“Right at the beginning, I knew this was not a temporary thing and that I was going to be here for a long time,” she said. “I just immediately felt like I was home.”
As CCU grew, it became home, not just to Barfield, but to her husband, her son, and her two young grandsons as well. Barfield’s husband, now retired, was a land surveyor the majority of his life, working for Joe Thomas and his company – the firm that did initial surveying for CCU’s campus.
“He still has all his old plans and designs of the campus in his office,” she said.
Barfield’s own grandsons, Bryson, 12, and Blaine, 7, plan to go to Coastal when the time comes.
The procurement services department does all the purchasing for the University. Barfield and her colleagues must first approve every item that comes on the campus, with the exception of building projects.
“We buy what everyone needs while saving the University as much money as possible,” said Barfield.
Barfield said she has an “old-school” philosophy that she learned from her parents: always do the best job you can, respect your boss, and take pride in all you do.
“I always wanted people to like our office,” she said. “I took it upon myself to make sure that procurement was the best it could be while adhering to CCU’s ethics code and South Carolina’s procurement codes.”
While working in procurement services comes with its own set of challenges, Barfield has her own way of making every day enjoyable.
“I try to laugh a little every day,” said Barfield. “Sometimes it’s about work and sometimes it’s not, but that’s something I like to do every day.”
Though she did not get to continue her education beyond high school, when her son began pursuing a business degree at CCU, Barfield was motivated to start taking classes, too.
“I would take the class he recently took because he already had the book,” Barfield said with a laugh. “I had a number of friends I worked with who took classes with me, and we did it one class at a time. It was quite an accomplishment.”
Barfield has forged many friendships during her time in and out of the classroom at CCU. When not working in the procurement department, she and her ‘Coastal Buddies,’ as she affectionately calls them, often travel together, go on one big trip every year. This year, Barfield and her friends Cooper; Nila Hutchinson, retired from president’s office; and Christine Mee, executive director of planning and research, are heading to North Dakota.
“We’ve been everywhere in the states, and we’ve gone on several cruises into Mexico and Canada,” she said. “We’ve seen all these beautiful places like the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, and we even went to New York three times because we liked it so much.”
Barfield said she has plenty of post-retirement plans, such as spending more time with her grandsons, fishing with her husband, doing yard work, and watching the CCU baseball team play. She also plans to continue travelling with her “Coastal Buddies,” and she hopes to venture on a Mediterranean cruise with them someday soon.
This is Barfield’s first nomination for I Spy, the employee recognition program whereby CCU employees can nominate staff and faculty members for outstanding performance. Angela Barwick, an administrative specialist who works with Barfield in procurement services, nominated her.
“June has helped me more times than I can count,” said Barwick. “She has been here for decades and knows more about purchasing than anyone on campus. She is very devoted to the University and always keeps its best interest at heart.”
While many, including Barwick, have told Barfield that she will be missed, she assures them that she will miss them even more.
“I have very mixed emotions about retiring,” said Barfield. “We have the best group in this department. Everybody works together and we all get along so well, it makes me love coming to work each day.”
To nominate someone for I Spy, go to coastal.edu/traininganddevelopment and click on I Spy for nomination. Nominees are honored at the end of the year.
Temperance Russell contributed to this article.
