2 CAMPUS NEWS
10/20 & 10/21 Student Club P.A.W. (Promoting Animal Welfare) is distributing literature on how to help local feral cats from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. next to cafeteria
WSUV’s vice chancellor of student affairsis a 20-year veteran with the university system,and she says she believes her job is important:overseeing student affairs and enrollment on thecampus.“I have overall responsibility for all studentaffairs and enrollment management on thiscampus,” said Nancy Youlden. Student affairsand enrollment management are surely broadcategories. Nancy collaborated by mentioningshe is in charge of career and disability services,student involvement, student government, newstudent orientation, and student ambassadors.She also does advising, but only for theundecided freshmen. Nancy believes her
position plays a signicant role on the campus,
“Our goals are to serve, enrich, and supportstudents.” Indeed, that is the mission statementof Student Affairs, “The primary purpose of Student Affairs is to provide the Universitycommunity with programs and services thatassist and empower students to achieve their
highest educational potential.” To fulll
that, Nancy spends her time representing thecampus to the community and to Pullman byworking with students, staff, administrators,and the student government president directly.She occasionally goes to Pullman to visit her colleagues.People rarely get to a high positionimmediately after they start a job. Most of the time, they have to work hard and climbup. Nancy did the same too. She started inPullman in 1990 as an assistant director. Sheworked for the branch campuses who paid her
salary, but her ofce was located in Pullman,
“When I was in Pullman, I worked in admission processing and recruitment.” As the branchcampuses started to grow, she was given moreresponsibilities and in 1994, she moved up to be the associate director. In July of 1996, Nancycame to Vancouver for a year appointment and became permanent here, “I ended up never going back and here I am.”In a high leadership position, Nancy has
had to make difcult and complex decisions
involving students, budget decisions as wellas addressing those issues with staff, “And I
overcame those difcult times by consistently
making decisions methodically and collectingas much information as possible. I try to befair, honest, and compassionate whenever there
is a difcult decision to make. I keep students
in mind when I make decisions and ultimatelytry to do what is right for our unit, our campusand WSU.” Nancy enjoys the variety of her work; lovesinteractions with students, faculty and staff; andappreciates the opportunity to be involved indecisions that impact the culture and directionof WSUV campus, “I work closely with Cabinetmembers (e.g. Vice Chancellors, HumanResources, Development/Alumni, Marketing/Communication, etc).” Her least favorite parts
of her job are conicts and personnel issues.
There are a few projects that Nancywould like to share. She is currently working
on “hiring a new nancial aid counselor,
chairing the search for a Director of StudentAffairs at WSU Spokane, updating our student handbook, reviewing and updatingRecords Retention schedule and creating andtransferring information for the web includingS&A materials and our orientation and trainingmaterials for staff.”With WSUV’s transition into a four-year university, the administrators had very littletime to hire the necessary staff and put on new programs and services in place. However, theyaccomplished that in a very short amount of time. Nancy is especially proud her accomplishment
in hiring excellent staff who are productive,
student-centered, and competent, who havehelped a lot in WSUV’s transition. Nancy’s regret is that sometimes she thinksshe should have pursued another advanceddegree. In her free time, Nancy likes to work out, travel, enjoy good food, and spend timewith family including a couple of small dogs,and friends.
Chau Nguyen
Staff Writer
Meeting Nancy Youlden
Becoming the Vice Chancellor
A
s undergraduate and graduate students
come close to nishing their degrees, theyhave to be anxious about looking for jobs after
they graduate. Attendees of the Diverse Career,Diverse People event learned a lot of helpfultips about job-searching and related things.The event on Oct.7 was sponsored bythe Student Resource Center and Diversity.Students had the chance to learn about variousindustries and potential career paths, network
with professionals, and learn experiences from
people of diverse backgrounds. The panelistswere: Aimee Heigold, category production artistfrom Nike; Nikole Hannah-Jones, MultnomahCounty reporter from the Oregonian; JamilPanni, project coordinator from Ecos(Environmental Business Consulting); andBrian Wright, creative director from BrianThomas Creative Marketing Group.Each panelist shared a little about how theygot the positions they are in today. Hannah-Jones got her job thanks to a networking daythat she attended. She met a recruiter for theOregonian and got the contact. After she wasdone with her internship at the time and her degree, she contacted the recruiter and got the
job. Having experienced herself, Hannah-Jones
said recruiters nowadays like to hire people
with experience already after they graduate, so
internship while in school is a must. She also
shared that in her eld today, an employee needs
not only to know how to report. The employer may ask him to shoot or edit videos. Therefore,Hannah-Jones said younger people have moreadvantage in technology than herself and her contemporary co-workers.A lot of helpful information was sharedduring the casual talk. Wright kept telling thestudents not to be shy and that communicationis the key to get a job. Wright related his
personal experiences, saying that his trying to
talk to customers and offer them help when hewas working at a retail store helped boost his
condence and communication skills needed
for his interview with a marketing company
later on, “I was no longer shy but condent
to talk to the manager at the interview. Let theemployers know your skills and what you wantor are interested in.”Getting out of your shell seemed to be arecurrent tip. “Be comfortable in your own skinto network. Know what you want and talk to people,” advised Panni.Aware of the economic recession, Heigoldknew that a lot of companies nowadays arehiring temporary employees only since the
employers do not have to pay for benets.
However, Heigold did advise the students not tohesitate to look for a temporary job since it is a
good chance to earn experience.
Job searching tips given
Diverse Careers, Diverse People
Chau Nguyen
Staff Writer
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