I was raised on a dairy farm in central Nebraska. My family had a herd of brown swiss cattle and also raised crops. We had beef cattle and at times had pigs, sheep and chickens. Growing up I was very involved in 4-H, and many weekends of my childhood were spent at rodeos watching my brother in bull-riding competitions. I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UNL. When I started with the university, I filled a brand new position as the outreach educational programming assistant at the Agricultural Research and Development Center (ARDC), a shared position between the ARDC and Saunders County Extension.
What is your position at UNL?
I currently am the marketing and promotions manager for the ARDC, providing marketing support for both research and Extension projects. I work with programs such as soybean management field days, crop management diagnostic clinics, and many other field days and extension programs, as well as various Saunders County Extension projects. I also coordinate events and tours for the ARDC.
What drew you to UNL?
I am a UNL alum. As an undergrad, I worked and lived on or near East Campus, even though all of my classes took place on city campus. IANR always has had a welcoming presence that I always hoped I would find my way back to.
Prior to joining UNL, I worked in the advertising department at a retail store, in the design department for a newspaper publisher, and did public relations work for a hospital in Grand Island. While I acquired very useful skills in my chosen field, I found myself wanting to use those skills in an agricultural related profession.
What aspect of working in an educational setting do you enjoy the most?
I like the fact that I get to work with such a diverse group of talented people. I get the opportunity to work with many different faculty members in planning programs and when sharing information about their research and programs. There are some really exciting and innovative things going on within IANR, and it is a great opportunity to learn about these projects directly from those involved with them. There’s always the prospect to learn something new.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
From a professional standpoint, I’m not sure I could attribute any one achievement to just myself. I work in team settings with co-workers who have very different job duties on projects, but share the commonality in taking pride in what we do to produce positive outcomes.
Seeing the trucks in the parking lot for a program or filled seats in a conference room can provide some immediate gratification from a marketing standpoint, knowing the word got out and people showed up for a program. However, it’s when I work on the impact reports and read the comments about what people actually learned at those educational programs that I see how we are making a difference. It’s when I hear the fourth graders at the ag literacy festivals spout off what they learned about agriculture that they had no idea about before attending the festival that I realize how important our programs are. Those are the type of achievements that I consider to be most valuable, but they are the achievements of teams, not just myself.
What is something that most people don't know about you?
I wish I could tell you that I had some great talent like playing some unusual musical instrument that you would have to Google to find out what it is, but that is just not the case. Outside of work, life pretty much centers around family for me. One thing that I will share that some people might not know is that I had the privilege of accompanying my parents on a Hero Flight for Korean War veterans to Washington D.C. in 2014. It was a humbling experience and really an honor to spend time with the veterans and hear their stories. It was a trip of a lifetime, not even so much about where we traveled, but the company that I traveled with. If anyone ever gets a similar opportunity, I would urge them to take it by the reins.
What is your life like outside of work?
Family keeps me busy – my kids’ activities keep my husband and I on our toes with 4-H, scouts, sports, dance, pets and animals. So I guess those two words sum it up – “family” and “busy”!