Julie Fredlund Science Scholarship

This Endowment was established and funded by Julie’s husband, Charles Tabor; Julie’s friends; and students, staff, and faculty from the University of Colorado-Boulder and Colorado Mesa University, where she served for many years as an administrative assistant. Julie was revered for her personal and professional support of all who came under her care. She died in September 2020 of a road bicycle accident while riding in the Colorado Monument near her home in Grand Junction.

Julie worked at CU Boulder for 12 years, where she served as Administrative Assistant to the Digital Signal Processing Lab within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She was responsible for every administrative duty in the lab. But beyond that she looked after the welfare and academic success of an entire community of graduate students, from the day they entered the PhD program until the day they completed their doctorates. She supported faculty in every aspect of their teaching and research responsibilities. Following her retirement from the DSP Lab, Julie completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from CU-Boulder in 1998. To the end of her life, she maintained contact with her many friends and colleagues in the lab.

Julie worked at CMU for about 14 years in the Biology and Physical and Environmental Sciences Departments. She was a kind person and had answers and solutions for almost anyone, students and faculty alike, who approached her with their problems. Her composure and serenity kept the office calm and welcoming. She ensured the students were assigned the most fitting faculty advisor, helped them register, prepared the faculty for the upcoming semester, sent nastygrams for copies not picked up or scantron not turned off, made sure keycards were coded, stationary stocked up and copiers functioning. She made sure two departments, their faculty and students functioned like a well-oiled machine.

But most importantly she was a friend, confidant, colleague, and helper. She is missed dearly.