What area do you work in within the VPFA portfolio?
Safety and Risk Services

What is your current position, and what are your job responsibilities?
I serve as the Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment (BETA) Case Coordinator and one of the Chairs of our BETA team.  Additionally, I serve as the Campus Clery Coordinator.

While there is more nuance and details to it, I track and organize data and information connected to the really bad things that might happen or have happened on all our campus locations and then provide resiliency care and support for those impacted.

What has been your career path; how did you end up in your current position?
I originally went to university in the hopes of being a high school history teacher and to coach high school sports on the side.  While earning my undergraduate degrees at Southern Oregon University in History and Psychology, I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to coach track and field at Ashland High School and work as a Resident Assistant.  Throughout all of those experiences, I figured out that what was really driving me to want to be a teacher were the opportunities to positively shape humans and relationships rather than teaching a specific curricula. While talking to a friend one day they made the statement, “Gosh, I sure wish you were my Resident Director!”  It hit me like a lightening bolt!  I wanted to work in higher education shaping student lives rather than be a teacher.  I spoke to a supervisor the next morning, and the rest is history.  After working for a few years at Southern Oregon University in University Housing, I then went to Oregon State University to earn my master’s degree in College Student Services and Administration with a minor in Risk Management. 

After graduating from OSU I continued my work in University Housing.  During my time in graduate school, I found that I had a talent in helping students give voice and meaning to what it meant to live and learn together in community.  I worked as both a Resident Director and as an advisor to the Residence Hall Association. After helping our student organizations host a couple of very successful regional conferences, I was elected to serve two terms as the Pacific Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls (PACURH) Regional Advisor.

In 2011, I followed a job opportunity on the Big Island of Hawai’i which allowed me to grow my skills, knowledge, and experiences around University Housing in a remote location.  Little did I know, but the position on the Big Island also helped me grow in the area of emergency management.  As a leader in University Housing, I needed to be able to track and respond to students and staff that may be impacted by lava flow, understand the impacts of hurricane season, set up evacuation locations in the event of a tsunami alert, share information related to earthquake activity, and more!  There were always new opportunities to learn. 

While I was in Hawai’i, I (re)met “my person” and after a few years of dating we decided to get married.  Since both of our immediate and extended families lived in Oregon, I came home from my tropical adventure and began working at Western Oregon University. While working at WOU, I was elected to serve as the North West Association of College and University Housing Officers (NWACUHO) President.  Serving as the President of NWACUHO provided me opportunities to expand my professional network, be on the front lines of professional best practices, and help a large organization navigate change in uncertain times. In 2021, Western Oregon University was facing a difficult financial outlook and I was one of many that way laid off.  While painful, this ended up being a blessing in disguise as that is what prompted my professional transition to the University of Oregon.

What obstacles have you overcome in your career?
The pandemic impacted absolutely everything.  Everything we thought we knew about what was needed to develop and shape community was thrown out the window.  Two weeks of working remotely and social distancing quickly turned into a month, which then turned into two months, which turned into four months…  You know the story. Everyone working during the pandemic, myself included, was exhausted and needed to make quick difficult decisions. The words “pivot” and “unprecedented” became words that I wished that I didn’t have to put into action.  One of the quotes that I often reflected on to keep me going was, “No one trips over mountains.  Cross all the pebbles in your path and you will find that you have crossed the mountain.”

With enrollment and housing occupancy down, WOU needed to make some difficult financial decisions and I was laid off.  I had never been unemployed before and I felt lost and overwhelmed. I will be forever grateful for the individual at the University of Oregon that reached out to me to gauge my interest in a temporary position at the UO helping to organize COVID requirements.  Being laid off was painful and difficult, but it turned out to be such an incredible gift as it brought me to the work that I am doing now.  I don’t know that I would have ever landed in Safety and Risk Services doing what I am doing now without the interruption that the pandemic provided.  

What is your work history and education that enabled you to attain your current position?
I think that I have always been professionally curious and a relationship builder.  I look for opportunities to get to meet people and learn about processes.  When I was working on remote or smaller campuses, I took the opportunity to learn about people and processes that were outside of the work that I was typically assigned.  That helped me learn more about things such as: fire systems, door locks and access controls, building infrastructure, financial aid and scholarship processes, recreational sports, long-distance emergency management and communication, large event planning, academic supports, and more.

When Safety and Risk was looking to hire for the position that I currently fill, I think they were looking for someone that had both a breadth and depth of experiences. Since I had also served in an emergency on-call rotation for over two decades, I think I was also able to demonstrate that I am not easily surprised at the decisions that individuals in crisis make and that I was a good critical thinker under pressure.

As I was reaching out to my professional network and applying for jobs, someone at the UO reached out to me to gauge my interest in a temporary opportunity around tracking COVID requirements.  This was a position that involved data tracking, long-term incident management, having intentional conversations and answering questions, providing rationale for processes, and more.  Being successful in this temporary position helped me demonstrate how I could be successful in the complex world of Behavioral Analysis and Threat Assessment.

How has working at UO enabled your professional goals and interests?
Working at the University of Oregon has helped me take a pause and truly consider my career trajectory.  For the longest time, I was on the Housing and Student Affairs track.  The goal was to become a Director of University Housing or Dean of Students.  Working at the University of Oregon in a division outside of the Division of Student Life offered an important interruption.  All of a sudden, I saw new pathways for me to use my skills, knowledge, and experience to help our community when something, typically bad, has occurred. 

My experience with the UO and working in Safety and Risk Services is that curiosity and professional initiative are rewarded.  I have been encouraged to learn more, and pass along my knowledge.  I am currently studying for my Certified Threat Manager credentialing offered through the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, and getting much more involved in professional organizations.

What do you like about your current position?
I often think about the quote from Mr. Rogers, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”  My job puts me in the position of being a critical helper for someone that may have experienced something scary, or for people who are scared of a potential situation.  To have the opportunity to be able to sit with someone and help them feel seen, heard, validated, and get connected to protective resources – wow, what a reward. 

Even if I am not actively meeting with someone, I am helping by: collecting and organizing data that helps the UO being more responsive to a potential situation, making sure that active incidents are being documented and that no one gets “forgotten”, by building networks of other helpers that are well positioned if they are needed, and by being a responsive colleague if anyone ever wants my “BETA eyes or ears” or my “Clery eyes or ears” on a situation.

Honestly, there is not a day that goes by where I don’t feel like I have somehow helped either a person or a project.

Please share some insight into what your job involves.
If you are familiar with the phrase, “An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure” then you are familiar with the work that I am most proud.  The success of the BETA Team is in all of the events that do not happen, and how we helped those within our community feel cared about.

What advice do you have for someone thinking of applying to the UO?
Do it!

Share a little about yourself personally:

• Family: My husband and I have lived together in Creswell since 2015.  We are joined in our house by three pets named, “Macaroni,” “Cheese,” and “Cheddar.” Macaroni and Cheese are brother/sister cats, and Cheddar is an 80-pound golden lab that is full of love.  We love to garden, camp, preserve food, bake, travel, and look for waterfalls.
• Favorite food: I think that cake is a miracle.
• Best movie you’ve seen: Tough question, but I think that the movie that I keep coming back to as one of my favorites is “Stranger Than Fiction.”
• If you could only take three items with you to a deserted island, what would they be? 1) A hammock , 2) Sturdy adventuring shoes, and 3) A flashlight.  While he is not an item, I would really like for my best friend and husband to be there with me.  We just have more fun when we are together!
• How do you want to be remembered? As someone that was kind, hopeful for the future, and worked really hard every day to make the world a better place for others.

If you could have the answer to any question, what would it be?
What is my dog barking about when there is demonstrably nothing in the backyard? What is she trying to communicate to me? 😊

(June 2025)