For the uninitated who might feel disoriented in De Anza College’s Computer Applications and Office Systems lab, Dianne Morrow’s smile reassures them the space is not as mysterious as it looks.

To those she greets from her desk, it may be a disappointment and a surprise to learn she will be laid off from this summer. The decision to eliminate her position caught her by surprise, too.

Morrow, an instructional associate, has worked at De Anza for 34 years, 30 of which she spent as the “mediator between students and teachers or staff.”

She greets new students at the front desk, assists students with taking tests, maintains files and sometimes gives counsel on questions that arise between students and teachers.

Since Feb. 16, she has been meeting regularly with Ernie Johnson, the coordinator for the CAOS department, to discuss how her work will be handled after she leaves.

Morrow says she is sure that the school could save money in some other ways than eliminating needed positions and laying people off.

In particular, shifting from the quarter system to a semester system “could cut expenses by one third due to reducing spending money on scheduling and registering,” she said.

Another option she suggests is eliminating summer session and “closing both De Anza and Foothill on Fridays because there are too few classes on Fridays.” Both measures could be introduced as temporary until the budget improves, she says.

Morrow also expressed surprise that her position could not be kept until 2012, when the Advanced Technology Center building will be closed for renovation and CAOS will move into a new building, the Mediated Learning Center, which will be constructed this spring.

She began work at De Anza in 1976 when, as she said, “there were only typewriters,” and witnessed the computer revolution.

She remembers the De Anza Day celebrations of the past, when students as well as professors were jubilant, sang and had a lot of fun. This school holiday ceased to be observed after 1996 when Dr. Martha Kanter, then chancellor, came into office.

She enjoys working with students, however, “a lot of students nowadays tend to cheat on their tests. It wasn’t that much before,” Morrow says.

Morrow doesn’t want to disclose her plans and wishes for the future. She will be dismissed in summer 2010.