Those of you who visit the School of Graduate Studies will often find students gathered around one office. No, it is not the Dean’s Office, but that of Connie Mahone, Manager of Student Services. She has been with the School for thirteen years, but far longer at UMKC. Connie grew up in Kansas City and attended public schools here. Her family emphasized the importance of higher education to her and this set her on a path that at its core involved working and helping people. Connie earned her BA in Communications, her MA in Counselor Education, and her Education Specialist in Higher Education Administration from UMKC in 1975, 1976, and 1992 respectively. However, Connie was not the first member of her family to attend UMKC. Connie’s mother attended UMKC when it was known as the University of Kansas City electing elementary education as her passion, teaching first grade. One can think of Connie as a legacy student and graduate.
What to do with all that education? The degree in Counselor Education fit Connie’s passion well for the several paths her career took. While Connie was working on her MA in Counselor Education, she was required to complete a Practicum and worked with Project Redirection, a first offender program administered by the courts. This experience eventually turned into Connie’s first professional career step as she was hired by Project Redirection to interview and assign clients to individual counselors, and she also worked with UMKC’s School of Education in coordinating student assignments. Four years later, Connie made the next step in her career path, going to work for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, where she was employed for ten years. In 1990, Connie’s career took a significant shift when she was hired as the Academic Coordinator for UMKC’s Upward Bound Program housed in the Center for Academic Development. There, again, her degrees in communication and counseling education served her well. Upward Bound is a national program established to provide opportunities for first generation high school students in their preparation for higher education pursuits. Tutoring, counseling and mentoring are only a fraction of the activities that this program provided. In addition to working with Upward Bound, she also worked with the Center’s Supplemental Instruction and Board Prep Program.
Next stop – The School of Law where Connie worked with students on everyday issues likely to affect students well-being. However, having already had a rich career, Connie did not stop here. She joined the School of Graduate Studies in 1999 as Manager of Student Services. Working with the School of Graduate Studies gave her new challenges and opportunities and it was a perfect fit for her skills. Once more, students tended naturally to flock to her for guidance on issues they faced with progress toward their graduate degree, as well as the usual student issues she had dealt with in her previous positions. In many cases, here she connected with faculty and students, often resolving issues before they became problems.
Throughout her career, Connie early on learned to separate herself professionally from her private life. There is much more to Connie than working with students. She serves as an elder in her church, spends time with her reading group, and most importantly spends much deserved time with her family and friends. Recently she indicated she plans to retire in about a year but she will not just sit at home. In addition to spending time with her family, she plans to do volunteer work such as with schools and hospice. It would not surprise anyone, though, if some type of counseling were involved. Moreover, what UMKC gave to Connie–an education and opportunity–she has given back to UMKC a hundredfold: her wisdom and the knack of working with students to help them think better about themselves and to be successful. Not a bad thing to have achieved at the end of one’s career. Let’s hope that she can look back with pride at what she has done for us!