Fabicae Vniuersitatis: Donna James

If there’s one constant rule in business, it’s this: Don’t mess with payroll.

No one knows that better than Donna James.

Donna, who has worked at YSU for 27 years, is one of the folks you go to if you have a problem with that most precious of things – your paycheck.

But James’ career at YSU hasn’t been all about deductions, earnings, taxes, pay rates and time sheets. She started here in 1990 as a midnight dispatcher in the police department, and also worked as a clerical specialist in the Records Office, then as an accountant, and finally now a payroll specialist.

A 1976 graduate of North High School in Youngstown, James worked as a seamstress for Gasser Chair, sewing chair covers for three years following high school graduation. She then worked six years on the assembly line at General Motors.

She holds an associate’s degree in Business from St. Mary’s College in O’Fallon, Mo., a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance and Human Resources from Fontebonne College in St. Louis and an MBA from YSU.

And she is now pursuing a masters’ degree in Criminal Justice at YSU, in hopes of starting yet another career track after retiring from YSU in 2019.