July 10, 2007 issue
After working 18 years in alumni relations
at the University of Michigan, I decided I needed a
change. I started at Eastern Michigan University in October
2002 as a temporary in community college relations. I was
there a couple months before a temporary position opened
in Continuing Education in Boone Hall. Over the next nine
months, I worked in three of the four corners of the building:
in non-credit programs, in distance education and in workforce education.
When the position of coordinator of distance education opened up, I interviewed
and was hired in August 2003. I was so grateful that CE thought enough
of my work that they wanted to keep me as a permanent employee! In December
2005, I accepted the coordinator position in the College of Business Graduate
Programs Office, working with Assistant Dean Dawn Gaymer, who also was
my boss during my time at CE.
In my position at the COB, I process all graduate admissions for the
college, including MBA, graduate certificates, and Masters of Science
programs in accounting, human resources and organizational development,
information systems and integrated marketing communications. I also handle
the graduation audits for our students. Assistant Dean Gaymer and I share
advising and enrollment management responsibilities for the MBA and graduate
certificate programs.
My favorite part of the job is being able to interact with students from
all over the world. The COB's graduate student population
is about 25 percent international. I like helping to ease
their transition here, and doing what I can to make them
feel comfortable. Over the past two weeks, I have met with
graduate business students from China, Ecuador, Germany,
India, Russia and Thailand. In a recent e-mail to me, a Thai student wrote, "I
will remember that my first experience of studying in the U.S., I was
given pieces of advice with care from you." I
feel like that I am not only representing EMU and the College
of Business, but the state and country as well!
I love the EMU students and community. I see myself staying here for
a while.
