OVPUE’s employee in the spotlight this month is Jessica Staten. She is the Director of Advising for The Center for Students in Transition and of Advisor Professional Development in University Division.
Here’s what she had to say (responses may have been edited for concision and clarity):
What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?
Jessica Staten (aka Jess). I joined OVPUE in February of 2017 as the Director of Advising for The Center for Students in Transition and Advisor Professional Development.
What three traits define you?
- I love people: getting to know them, hearing their stories, and making true connections.
- I love details and paying attention to the things that others may overlook. Typically I describe myself as CDO (because my OCD needs to be alphabetized.)
- My beliefs define my actions.
What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?
Event Planning! I want to own a property on which I could coordinate events. There is this little, 200-acre property back home in Kentucky which I have watched for the past 10 years. If it ever goes up for sale, I will have a hard decision to make.
If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
I would love to be fluent in as many languages as possible. To me, communication is the center of every interaction.
What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?
Before joining the IU family, my position at a previous institution was eliminated due to budget cuts. It took years for me to recover from this low point in my career. This experience taught me how to be resilient and that my job is what I do not who I am. The most valuable lesson I learned was the necessity of having a work-home life balance.
How do you define success?
Success is doing something which I enjoy, that gives me purpose, and brings me joy.
What do you do in your spare time?
I love to organize, clean, fix things, and craft. I also like to learn new skills (ie: power tools and home improvement projects)!
What’s the coolest (or most important) trend you see today?
I wouldn’t classify this as cool; however, the intentional movement to an inclusive society is a necessary and refreshing change. I am of the opinion that we are better when we include the thoughts, opinions, and ideas of those who have differing views from our own.
What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?
The camaraderie to do good work with the common goal of assisting students.
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