My First Workday at AUBG
Accountant Snejana Bangacheva has been with AUBG since its founding. In honor of the university's 30th anniversary, she looks back at 1991 and her early days at the institution.
Monday, July 15, 1991, started with a job interview at AUBG. I was looking forward to this moment! It was at the President’s Office in the Main Building with AUBG’s first president Edward Laverty and interpreter Margaret Barzachka.
It was an exciting meeting and, to my surprise, I got an offer on the spot and started immediately. I didn’t hesitate to accept, despite the uncertain future of this university, not yet popular and not yet recognized by the National Assembly.
I started as a cashier in the building of the former Communist Party Residence near Bachinovo. All of us who began work in the summer of 1991 were originally hired through the Open Society Foundation. That summer was interesting and intense!
Administrators and professors for the future university, many with their families, started arriving from the U.S. – Steve Kenney, the first finance director; Bill Porter, the administrative director; Wyatt Courtemanche, facilities director; Anna-Maria and Geoffrey Dean, Robert Phillips, Juliana Mutti, Matthew Fike, and many others. At first they stayed at the Residence until they would find an apartment in town. They were curious about life in Bulgaria and especially Blagoevgrad.
In September of 1991, the Grand National Assembly passed the Resolution for Granting Status of an Institution of Higher Education to the American University in Bulgaria. All employees were reappointed to the new institution. I moved to the Accounting Office where I work to this day.
The official inauguration for the university was on November 1, 1991. There were guests from the University of Maine, the Bulgarian Government, the Blagoevgrad Municipality, first-year students, parents, employees and people from town, all gathered in the central square.
All of us put a lot of work and efforts into the university. To this day, I am proud to have been a part of building AUBG from the start.