Michelle Heard has been the Administrative Assistant in the School of Graduate Studies since February 2013. Here, she handles front desk operations, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. student files, and graduate student support, along with several other duties. Working in the School of Graduate Studies was more luck for her than it was a decision-making process.
“I had applied for a Work Study position within Environmental Safety, but there was a glitch in the system somewhere that did not allow me to be listed as ‘eligible’ for the position by the time the office had to make a decision for hiring,” she said. “Luckily, my would-have-been supervisor in Environmental Safety was friends with my now-supervisor in SGS. A few phone calls, some paperwork, and an interview later, here I was.”
Before working in SGS, Michelle held other positions at UMKC.
“I was a Copy Editor off and on for several years for the University News, which allowed me to utilize my leadership skills,” she said. “I also worked in Admissions processing in 2010, which helped me to learn about some of the inner workings of the University. My first position within SGS was as a Work Study, and I transitioned into the Administrative Assistant position when the previous one left for other work.”
Even through those other experiences, Michelle’s favorite UMKC position has been as SGS Administrative Assistant.
“This position has been by far the most influential, beneficial, and toughest of all of them,” she said. “I love working directly with students, and have very much enjoyed learning about such things as international GTA certification and assessment processes. I’ve learned about event planning, donor relations, databases and websites, university politics, and what I do and do not want in my future career.”
Along with working at UMKC, Michelle has been attending as a student since 2007.
“I earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and English in 2010,” she said. “I started a master’s in Counseling in 2010, then switched to Curriculum and Instruction in 2013, then switched to Higher Education Administration in 2014. I’ll finally finish a Master of Arts in May 2016.”
As a young girl, Michelle wanted to get into politics.
“In the third grade, I wanted to be a U.S. President,” she said. “Since several past Presidents had been lawyers, I had decided that was the path I would also choose. That dream disappeared when I found out what being a lawyer likely meant and the toll it might take on my psyche.”
Now, her goals have changed drastically.
“My overall goal is to become an angel investor in small businesses,” she said. “I’d like to compile an advisory committee of five people who have been investors for a while, to meet with me every six months. They would each bring two or three new companies to the table, and together we would choose one to receive $2 million. This, of course, means making my own fortune first, so we’ll see how it goes.”