A TYPICAL DAY: “It varies, but the one constant thing is that I have a lot of meetings that I attend or have to call together, which is meeting either with students, staff or faculty on a variety of different issues.
“Right now one of the biggest things we are working on is preparing to select the firm to build the Tate Student Center expansion and also the renovation of the building. That is taking up a lot of time as far as reviewing the submissions from architectural firms.
“The other days, sometimes I am meeting with student groups that may have issues with their clubs or organizations, meeting with our facilities and services staff and trying to improve the look of our building and our services that we provide to UGA students.
“We always are looking at programs and services that we offer that need to be updated. I am always looking at what is relevant to students today, especially determining what students are doing and listening to, such as iPods, and how to work new technologies into the student center.”
YEARS IN CURRENT POSITION: One and a half.
“I have been with the university for 12 years and did my graduate work in the College of Education. During that time I had an assistantship in programming office for student affairs. After that, I became a program adviser at the university for about five years and then assistant director for three and a half to four years. Then I was asked to be the interim director for student activities and that went into effect this past August.”
MOST REWARDING PART OF MY JOB: “I get to work with many different people who are not just staff, but I get to interact with different students and community folks.”
A BOOK I’D RECOMMEND TO OTHERS: “I am reading James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces right now. It is interesting to be in the middle of reading, while amid all the controversy with the author and people saying that he has fabricated some of the story.
“I think it is an interesting and tough look at what happens when someone becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol. It is a harsh reality.”
OFF-THE-JOB INTERESTS: “I have been involved since 1996 as a volunteer with Boybutante, which helps the AIDS Foundation.
“I think that it is really important to the Athens community that we have an organization where people can contribute money to help people with HIV and AIDS in Northeast Georgia. We have events throughout the year and really try to take advantage of raising as much money as possible. All the funds go to AIDS in Athens and people in this area are being helped.”
THE PEOPLE I MOST ADMIRE: “My parents. My dad grew up in south Georgia and joined the military where he spent 26 years. He was born in the mid to late 30s—not the most liberal time in history. But, he figured out what he wanted to do and was able to travel the world and was exposed to many different things. He met my mother in Thailand and they will have been together for
38 years this June.”