EXPERIENCE

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to hone my professional experience into a strong foundation ideal for furthering the success and missions of any organization that I collaborate with. My ever-growing experience is a testament to my natural desire to continue to learn and develop as an individual whether it is through formal education, skills earned through work, the development of my personal philosophy, or casual explorations into new fields such as coding or learning a new language.

Listed below are a few of the skills I am proud to possess knowing they were earned through perseverance, curiosity, and a love of education. With a naturally curious mind, my on-the-fly adaptability to change and challenges will only prove invaluable to my colleagues, professional peers, and the organizations in which I serve.

I can’t wait to see what I learn next. 

Data Collection, Maintenance, and Analysis

A love for collecting, maintaining, and analyzing data related to our international population is crucial to the success of my work and our clients. Through progressive automation, collaboration with my team, and brainstorming new and innovative ways to understand the application of the data we collect and maintain, I can ensure that my colleagues and I have the resources we need to perform our daily work. This includes the assignment, organization, and updating of records in response to student and scholar immigration benefit requests; the development of eForms and the automation of applying eForm data updates to individual records; building, requesting, capturing, and analyzing surveys and reports; and presenting data to both internal and external clients as it relates to semester admission and enrollment numbers, regulation compliance, and record terminations or completions. 

As an undergraduate, I had several opportunities to practice varying data collection, synthesis, and reporting methods within the range of my geology, geoarchaeology, archaeology, archaeology of rock art, and geography courses. This includes creating and submitting reports based on data collected in the field, following strict guidelines as a component of larger experiments, and discussing how each classmate’s data interacted with the larger research project being conducted. Labs also included the study of various maps and their use in the field.

Project Management

Acting in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment has become second nature to me, especially in my current position. As a SEVIS Coordinator, I am responsible for the immigration records of up to 2,300 international students and scholars at Colorado State University. Proper attention to detail, communication between students and the US Government, and the ability to prioritize and complete several independent time-sensitive projects with shared deadlines are all crucial skills for the success of this position. The consequences of failing to maintain these records accurately and in accordance with immigration law can result in the deportation of a student or even the loss of Colorado State University’s ability to host international students in academic programs.

Communications

Communication is my most natural talent and I have leaned into it throughout my life with wonderful results, including the publication of my debut novel and the creation of my online publication, Beaux Cooper Media. I am currently working on my next novel which will be a historical fiction set in the (wild) American West.

I have a background in copy and page editing for a local newspaper in my hometown which included the distribution of story assignments, copy editing, resource management, page design and functionality, as well as my own role as a journalist. As an editor, it was vitally important to notice the smallest detail out of order including whether or not text aligned across the articles on the page. This attention to detail has reached into all areas of my life and contributes daily to my organizational skills.

Over the last decade, I have built websites, hosted blogs, contributed content to multiple websites, and provided editing services. I started my adventure in web design back in the grand ol’ days of Geocities, transitioned into LiveJournal, ventured into the blogging world with Blogger, helped create merchant websites on Wix, and have survived the ever-changing editing tools of WordPress. Much of my experience has been a result of self-study and using the wonderful resource of the internet as my teacher, however, I do have formal training in business marketing; formal, informal, academic, and creative writing styles; editing; and web development. This includes courses specifically designed for writing for the web and SEO best practices.

I have also served as the co-leader of the Communications Committee in my current office to help our department audit the information we disseminate to our international students and how that information is provided. One of our committee’s goals was to find creative ways to disseminate information throughout each semester to our international and domestic clients regarding immigration regulation changes and reminders rather than relying on email communications to overcome our students’ and colleagues’ email fatigue. Avenues we have pursued include social media posts, YouTube videos, infographics, and push notifications. In the fall of 2019, I collaborated with our Communications Manager in the migration of our entire website to a new platform while directly reporting progress to our Associate Director. This required delegating content review to our Communications Committee members, and working as the primary leader for content creation, design, and menu restructuring for our website.

When it comes to the interpretation and dissemination of government regulations, I am often required to present the same information through different approaches to ensure that the student or scholar can understand. This requires that I possess an intimate knowledge of the regulations, the ability to collaborate with my colleagues about soft interpretations, and a degree of communication creativity to be successful.

The communications-oriented skillset I’m most recently honing is my public speaking and presentation skills which will become invaluable to me as my career progresses. This includes providing presentations to my community, colleagues and peers, and groups of which I am a member.

Serving Culturally Diverse Populations

In addition to the experience listed in the About section of my portfolio, I have intentionally sought formal education in expanding my understanding and perceptions of communities different than my own. During my studies, I specifically targeted history, religion, and cultural courses around First Nation peoples and the Chicano community. I have a passion for rock art as it serves as a manifestation of humanity’s development of symbolic thought – a technological change in our species that has made us entirely unique. I am currently applying to online graduate programs in Natural Resource Management with a focus on Ecological Restoration and hope to begin that journey in late-August 2022 while continuing to build my career.

I have experience working with several members of the Hopi tribes in the American Southwest as well as personal relationships with members of the Wind River reservation in Wyoming. I have a passion for North and South American history and cultural preservation and exchange. My professional and academic training has made me keenly aware of personal biases and how they influence individuals allowing me to avoid such pitfalls as applying my lens to others as the standard. I know I have much left to learn, and that prospect excites me.

Office Management and Administration

I have a history of maintaining and managing departmental budgets through payroll, leave balance maintenance, accounts receivable and payable, and budget summation. These budgets often involved accounts worth millions of dollars and the need to collaborate with participants located across the United States to ensure their proper maintenance. These roles also required the supervision of staff in support of the greater college or department’s units as well as our external clients.

Office management can often be overlooked because when an office is managed well, you won’t know it was managed at all. That’s the way I like it – smooth day-to-day operations provided by proactive solutions created before problems arise that could cause the gears of the daily machine to come to a grinding stop. These proactive solutions include maintaining self-discovered deadlines, ensuring supplies stores are well stocked, having extensive experience and knowledge of office processes and policies, and knowing the ins and outs of my daily work and expectations.

My experience as an office administrator has bolstered my skills in software adaptation and management including mastering the Microsoft Office suite; office equipment such as Xerox machines; reception and client services; administrative support to colleagues and executive-level leadership; basic human resources knowledge, and project coordination and management.