Tina Wolfgram: Dedicated to Print

Tina Wolfgram

Tina Wolfgram’s career in the printing industry began on the day her sister bicycled past a print shop in Altoona, Wisconsin.

“She was riding past the shop, and the owner came out and said, ‘Hey, [have] you got any friends that need a job?’ She rode home and told me, and asked if I needed a job. So, I went down, and he offered me a job as a bindery person,” says Wolfgram, who today is the manager of Print Services at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire (UWEC).

This wasn’t her first encounter with printing, though. Wolfgram says her interest was initially piqued when she took a graphic arts class at Altoona High School in Wisconsin her sophomore year. She jokes that the only reason she took the class was because there were whispers from classmates that it was an easy A, but upon taking the class, she found herself enjoying it.

Wolfgram took her first job at Altoona Printing in 1982. It was there she spent the first 17 years of a career that has now spanned four decades.

“I started out just on collating jobs and things like that in bindery and, apparently, I impressed him because he offered me a part-time job that I’d go to after school,” Wolfgram says.

Over the course of her apprenticeship, Wolfgram went from bindery to setting lead type and perforating with a Heidelberg Windmill, to eventually running a press. However, after nearly two decades at the shop, Wolfgram — although she loved Altoona Printing — decided she needed to work for a bigger institution that offered better benefits. Her husband Jeff encouraged her to apply to UWEC.

“He got me an application, so I applied. And then we went on vacation, and I didn’t know the state usually works pretty slow, so I figured my opportunity was long gone, and I wasn’t going to get the job. But then I got a call, came in for the interview, and I’ve been here since 1999,” Wolfgram says.

New Opportunity

While Wolfgram was excited for a new opportunity, the transition from a smaller shop to a university in-plant was a little intimidating. She also felt guilty for leaving her former employer, knowing her absence would make things harder on her old boss. So, Wolfgram continued to work part-time for Altoona Printing as she began her new journey at UWEC.

The Printing Services team at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire (from left): operators Tim Johnson, Denise Kujawa, and Megan Burmood; Amanda Wolfgram, financial specialist; and Tina Wolfgram, manager.

“I was so comfortable where I was. I didn’t want to stop working for him because it was a small shop and I knew if I stopped, I don’t know that he would have made it, and so I stayed there working part-time,” she says. “I worked at the university as a press operator. That was my first position here, and so I worked at the university eight hours a day, and then I would go work for him for three or four hours after I got done with work.” She did this for nearly a year, she says, “and then I decided I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

New Responsibilities

After running the presses for a few months at UWEC, Wolfgram was asked to handle off-campus print purchasing. She took purchasing procurement classes and discovered she enjoyed it. She worked with state-contracted suppliers and bid out jobs to local printers, building relationships with both university departments and suppliers. This experience would later aid in her current secondary title of off-campus print coordinator.

“Here I am, just so green at the university and this position, and I’m offered this extra position and, honestly, I loved it. I just absorbed everything like a sponge,” Wolfgram says.

Eventually a new manager came in and took over off-campus print purchasing, but over the years Wolfgram wore different hats and worked in different positions, such as digital print operator. As managers came and went, she eventually took back off-campus print purchasing duties, and did that in conjunction with her digital print operator role for eight years. But when the opportunity arose to apply for manager, she was kindly asked not to.

“Our manager was retiring, and I wanted to apply, but they told me I was too valuable in what I did, and they asked me to hold off, and I understood that, but it did hurt that they didn’t want me to apply,” Wolfgram reflects. “So, another new guy came in, and he actually helped us grow quite a bit, which was good, and it’s when he retired that they came to me and asked me to apply to the position.”

From Operator to Manager

Because Wolfgram had already been handling most of the manager’s responsibilities for years, she says it was a smooth transition. She’s now going on two years as manager for the in-plant.

While the transition was smooth, Wolfgram admits it was difficult to take a step back from her former duties.

“I was a digital press operator for years, so it was hard to walk away from that and have to say … ‘Nope, that’s not my job anymore,’” she says, adding, with a laugh, “Actually, I came in the other morning and there was a rush order, and since I get here before everybody, I printed it.”

Wolfgram also faced other bumps in the road. When she started as manager, three in-plant employees retired, so the in-plant was short-staffed right off the bat. Finding qualified workers to fill those positions was a challenge, she says.

“We’re fully staffed now, and I’m super happy about that, and it’s a great group. Everyone just meshes together really well,” Wolfgram says. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t even need to motivate them because they motivate each other.”

In addition to the in-plant’s five full-timers, Wolfgram hires 12 student workers a semester. They are a big help with bindery, running the in-plant’s walk-up center, and making campus deliveries. But, she admits, sometimes those student workers leave for higher paying part-time jobs.

“We can’t compete with off-campus places like Culver’s paying $16 an hour, so once students can bring a car to campus they typically go that route. But for the ones who can’t do that, once they start working here and see how fun we are — you know, I bring food in for them and things like that — they usually stick around. Food is a really great motivator,” Wolfgram laughs.

Being A Woman in The Industry

It’s no secret that the printing industry is male dominated, but that has never phased Wolfgram. She says she feels very fortunate to not have experienced any male pushback over the span of her career.

“I let it be known that I’m very knowledgeable,” she says. “I’m not a very meek person. I don’t sit back and let people talk to or treat me however they want.”

However, the one area where she feels being a woman has hurt her is wage.

“Wage-wise, I’m not making what the previous manager made, and I’m not making what the manager before that made, and they were both male,” she notes. “I’m doing the same job, and I have the same experience. It makes me feel a little underappreciated and undervalued sometimes.”

To close that wage gap, Wolfgram says she’s put in a request for a title change (and a pay increase) with her boss.

For other women in the industry facing the same situation, Wolfgram urges them to do their research and learn how much their cohorts make and also how long they’ve been in the industry. Then they can make an “apples to apples” comparison, she notes. It’s also beneficial to have strong women in your corner, she adds. Wolfgram’s boss, Kristin Schumacher, has been extremely supportive during this title change process.

“Be persistent,” Wolfgram coaches. “And don’t give up.”

Outside of work, Wolfgram is an avid reader of fantasy fiction books and loves to travel with her husband Jeff, occasionally joined by their two adult children. She has also sold Avon products for nearly 25 years.