Angie Balkcum Retires

Please join us in celebrating Angie Balkcum’s 38 years of service to the Department of Neurosurgery and the University of Minnesota. Angie is THE fixture of the department, having served longer than anyone. She has served 5 department heads, 87 residents, innumerable faculty and departmental employees. She is recognized throughout the Medical School as a loyal and dedicated, wise and experienced member of the team that has provided excellence in neurosurgical care, education and research for many decades.

Angie stands out as a model of one who sees her job as doing what needs to be done in order to achieve the goals of the department and Medical School. Although she is an expert at working with the bureaucracy, she is not one who lets the bureaucracy determine the outcome.

As good as she has been with her formal job duties, her real value has extended to the intangible aspect of being everyone’s friend, providing wise counsel and guidance, remaining optimistic and helping to keep everyone’s spirits up in difficult times, celebrating the great times, and being first the department “sister” then “mother” and, dare I say it, “grandmother” (yes, at least two sons of former residents have entered neurosurgical training in the department during Angie’s tenure).

The department cannot be the same without Angie and would not be what it is today had she not been part of the department for these many years. We will miss her greatly (although she is just a phone call away) but can only wish that the next years of her life are as happy and rewarding for her as her years with the department have been for us.

Stephen Haines, MD
Lyle A. French Chair and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery