What area do you work in within the VPFA portfolio?
I work in Business Affairs.
What is your current position, and what are your job responsibilities?
I’m an accountant in the General Accounting Department.
What has been your career path; how did you end up in your current position?
After graduating from the University of Oregon with my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, my husband and I moved to New Orleans so I could work in the accounting office of a construction company. After a year and a half we decided we missed Oregon too much and moved back home. I was an accountant at a local bank for a year after we moved back but knew in my heart I wanted to work at UO. When an accounting technician position came available, I applied and was hired. After about a year I took a position as a fiscal coordinator in Business Affairs and UO has been my home for almost ten years now.
What obstacles have you overcome in your career?
Paying off student loans! Also, as an introvert it took a long time for me to find my voice and be comfortable offering my opinion. It’s something I still work on.
What is your work history and education that enabled you to attain your current position?
Besides having a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and accounting experience in different fields, I worked my way through college as a retail manager. Believe it or not, a lot of an accountant’s job is providing customer service to internal (and sometimes external) customers. I believe my customer service skills have helped me excel at that while collaborating with team members to complete projects. It also helped develop my strong work ethic.
How has working at UO enabled your professional goals and interests?
Working in the private sector made me realize I wanted to be part of something bigger than making profits for a company. I love being part of the university and knowing we are all part of bettering the community around us through education and research. Also, working in a central office at a large organization has widened and deepened my accounting knowledge and skills.
What do you like about your current position?
- I love the people in our office - they are like my second family and we make a great team.
- Working in a central office makes it possible to see what goes on all across the university and to work with diverse groups of people.
- My job is never boring. We work on a wide range of projects like implementing new governmental accounting standards, performing system audits to make sure our financial system is working correctly and is in balance, helping test Banner updates, creating websites, putting together tables for UO’s financial statements, and correcting problems people don’t know they have.
What advice would you have for others; what secrets would you share for someone thinking of applying to the UO?
It’s probably not a secret, but the UO is a wonderful place. There is so much room for advancement and growth, and opportunities to form relationships with people at all levels of the university. My advice is to remember most of the time you only see part of the picture. We are all doing important work even if it sometimes feels insignificant; we have pieces of the puzzle and it’s good to ask how things fit into the big picture. Also, kindness doesn’t cost anything; use it generously.
Share a little about yourself personally:
- Family: I have been married to my husband for almost 15 years. Our seven-year-old daughter and two-year-old son keep us busy. Between kids’ sports and kids’ activities we try to fit in home renovation projects, gardening, cooking and baking, camping, and hiking.
- Favorite food: Italian, no wait… Mexican. No, Thai. Pizza? Dessert? Ok, I like pretty much all food and don’t have a favorite. My husband is a chef so we work hard to balance that with our children’s love of macaroni and cheese.
- Best movie you’ve seen: I don’t have a favorite but I love the Harry Potter books and by extension the movies. Runners up are Pulp Fiction, Zombieland, and the Star Wars trilogy.
If you could only take 3 items with you to a deserted island, what would they be?
Do people count? I’d want my family to be with me.
How do you want to be remembered?
I would like to be remembered as a kind and hard-working person who tries not to take themselves too seriously.
If you could have the answer to any question, what would it be?
Why is our two-year-old upset and throwing a tantrum? :)
(November 2019)