- Campus:
- IU Bloomington
How did you end up at IU?
I was a couple of years out of my master's in social work and I was looking for a position where I could use my knowledge from my secondary education degree and my social work degree. That is how I ended up applying for and being hired as a, then, University Division academic advisor. Advising first year students was the perfect marriage of my two degrees. That was in 2005. After 6 years in University Division and two years in the Kelley School of Business, in 2013, I was hired as a business analyst and subject matter expert in academic advising.
What professional development activity will/did you complete with the help of the IUWIT grant? (please include a detailed description)
The IUWIT grant supported my attendance at the 2024 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference. They are a nonprofit association with the mission of advancing higher education through the use of information technology. There are tracks in Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Risk Management; Enterprise, Strategy, Data, Infrastructure, and Support; Future of Work; Innovation and Emerging Technologies; Leadership; Student Experience; and Teaching and Learning.
What was the most valuable take-away from your experience with that activity that you can share with us?
I focused primarily on sessions related to the Student Experience track since my work has always been within enterprise student systems. Needless to say, AI is a hot topic in every industry right now and higher education is no exception. Most of my sessions were focused on the use of AI in higher ed. The most valuable takeaway for me was that it’s critical to consider how AI use will be governed and to have policies in place for its use. I was and am thinking of this broadly across all colleges and universities. Everyone wants to jump in headfirst because no one wants to be left behind; everyone wants to be at the forefront. What happens when a professor is using ChatGPT to summarize a student’s paper? This was very quickly stopped at the university where it happened, but without governance or policies in place individuals don’t know what acceptable use is. There are a lot of considerations and conversations that still need to take place around the use of open- and closed-system models in the higher education environment.
Is there a role model you look up to in your personal or professional life?
While I don’t have a specific role model, I have colleagues and mentors who have been critical to my success thus far and who are guiding me into the future. When I started as a business analyst, I was a front-end user. I knew nothing about where data lived and how it was used in our applications. When you are stepping into a role where you have knowledge gaps, two things are critical to being successful long-term. First, you have to be willing to learn and seek out the people and opportunities that will allow you to do that. Second, you need to be surrounded by people who want to support your learning. I have and do work with analysts, developers, UX experts, and leadership that support my learning.
What did you want to be as a child, and how has that journey led you to where you are today?
My journey has not been a straight path at all. It’s why, when I was an academic advisor, I used to tell first year students that they don’t have to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life. They just have to decide what they’re excited about learning right now. When I was young, I wanted to be an English teacher. That was always what I wanted to be. I majored in secondary education but realized near the end of my degree that it wasn’t quite the right path. Volunteering with Middle Way House led me in the direction of social work. I completed my MSW and worked in non-profit management for a couple of years, but I felt too disconnected from the people we were helping. That’s when I found my first job at IU as an advisor and, a year later, I started teaching adjunct in the School of Social work where I taught for 14 years. I mentioned earlier how I ended up moving into IT. So it has been anything but a straight route.