Amanda Gilliland, Career Trajectory

I was raised in an entrepreneurial family. My parents owned their own businesses

everywhere we lived and were always strong proponents of being your own employer. I
graduated high school with the goal of focusing on business and becoming a business person
functioning in a career that led to a leadership role. Through my work experience, I have learned
that I love training and teaching. I am also a college football coachs wife who could move
around a lot and I will always be near a higher education institution as a potential employer. My
passion and circumstances lead to the conclusion for me that working in education would be the
best fit. I have worked in property management, legal administration, the College of Graduate
Studies, and now in graduate admissions and realize that, while the political atmosphere of
higher education is not my passion, students, the campus environment, and education is what I
want my career to be about. I originally enrolled in the Master of Education in Higher Education
Administration because I would not be able to be promoted in a university setting without a
master degree and Educational Administration was the best fit for that goal. Through my
coursework and discussions in class I am looking at this degree as an opportunity to merge my
love for students, teaching and training, and business administration together and become a
director in a student service role or a professor in the area of higher education administration.
Points of Influence
I married a college football coach and that forever changed my ability to choose a career.
Instead, I saw my career become finding a job wherever my husbands job moved me. Now,
through my opportunity to work on campus at Georgia Southern University, I have realized that
higher education is a passion of mine and a higher education institution will be wherever a
college coach works. Because of this, I can build my educational experience and find a way to
work at something that I enjoy regardless of where I live.
I have a director of graduate admissions that has been a mentor to me and encouraged me
to pursue education for the sake of bettering myself and learning. He has influenced me in a way
that will change my leadership methods. His world view perspective has provided me and my
colleagues the opportunity to self-manage and achieve tasks that may have been shot down in
a departmental meeting. His management style has encouraged me to enroll in the masters
program and to commit to the chance to becoming a leader in my role in graduate admissions
through the achievement of my master degree.
I get the chance to join in on initiatives with different people on campus. One person is
the recruiting coordinator for the MBA program. She and I have had discussions about going to
school and she comes from the same perspective that I do the business world perspective. We
have had conversations during stressful points of my graduate work that she has been a great
encouragement to me to continue on and not give up because the degree is important to keep
helping students.
In my role as the Communications Coordinator for Graduate Admissions, I have been
tasked with working alongside many representatives in many roles on campus. From
administrative assistants, to program directors, to Deans, to Vice Presidents, I get the opportunity
to interact with people on campus in a service capacity. My opportunities to help build tools for
graduate education, as well as train and educate our faculty and program directors on some of
these tools has helped me realize that I love being in the campus environment and that I enjoy
teaching in any capacity. Being able to share how things work and how to use the tools we are
given to achieve goals and initiatives placed in front of us gives me enthusiasm and excitement
for my job.
Through my time on campus at Georgia Southern University, I have found that there are
resources that will enhance my professional knowledge. Specifically I have subscribed to the
Chronicle of Higher Education to become knowledgeable of news impacting our industry. I have
become a member of the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals and am
currently part of an implementation of the Southeastern Graduate Admission Professionals group
within NAGAP. I have made a point to continue my love for training and education through the
company Hobsons. Hobsons Connect is a contact management system that I personally manage
for the graduate admissions office. For the past 2 years I have been a presenter at their
professional users conference being nominated for peer excellence award in 2012 for most
knowledgeable institutions using a Hobsons product. Being considered a resource and expert by
representatives from other institutions on a product encourages me that Im on the right track and
my skill set is specifically in training or teaching.
Short and Long Range Goals
My plan to become a director or professor starts first with graduate education. I work in
the College of Graduate studies which provides me the opportunity to interact with stakeholders
of graduate education. This interaction is valuable experience that will assist me in my studies
and help me become more knowledgeable about the industry. Short term goals toward my future
plan include learning the philosophies in graduate education, exposing myself to enrollment
management strategies put in place by institutional research and student affairs and enrollment
management departments, and taking on further tasks beyond my standard communications role
will provide me with a varied experience in higher education administration. I hope to take on
leadership within my own department in the short term to show Im prepared for more leadership
opportunities. Ive already begun by managing the recruitment season and making sure Georgia
Southern University is well represented across the state at a variety of fairs and networking
opportunities. I am taking on initiatives such as implementing webinars for recruiting applicants
and developing further training for program directors. I also hope to developing more diverse
recruitment initiatives by collaborating with graduate programs in order to meet their specific
recruitment needs.
In the long term achieving a Master Degree in Higher Education Administration is the
first big step in achieving my goal. Completing this degree will allow me to be eligible for
promotion and administrative leadership within a university setting. Once achieving my master
degree I hope to teach first year experience classes which will allow me to have experience
teaching in a university setting and have the interaction with students on a personal level. The
next step is to continue developing relationships with representatives on campus. I then would
work toward the opportunity to become an adjunct faculty member teaching higher education
courses. In order to be a full time faculty, I will need to work towards my Doctorate degree. I
would like to get my Ed.D. in Educational Administration so I can ultimately work in the
College of Education on a campus or online and teach courses for masters level Higher
Education Administration.
Career Trajectory
In reviewing my goals I have put together a short timeline or trajectory for this ultimate
career path.
- Where do I want to be in 2 years? Id like to graduate from Georgia Southern with my
M.Ed in Higher Education with a 4.0.
- Where do I want to be in 3 years? Id like to be teaching First Year Experience Courses at
Georgia Southern and working as an Assistant Director for Admissions or Graduate
Admissions.
- Where do I want to be in 5 years? I want to be an adjunct or part time faculty so I can
continue to work while managing my family.
- Where do I want to be in 6 years? Working towards my Ed.D. in Educational
Administration.
- Where do I want to be in 10 years? Finishing my Ed.D. in Educational Administration
and exploring Full Time Faculty positions at Georgia Southern or elsewhere teaching in
education administration courses.
- What skills should I make a priority to build in my time through this trajectory? I should
achieve a master and doctoral degree. I should have built up my experience as a teacher
on campus through first year experience and as a part time teacher or teachers assistant. I
should have excellent skills and knowledge about higher education and the political and
philosophical perspectives there are at many institutions. As a director candidate Id like
to have the knowledge of recruitment strategies for both undergraduate and graduate
education. I want to be able to develop my own ideas and plans for educational student
service initiatives and be able to understand the educational environment but challenge
the status quo ideas.
Ultimately, I have to finish, not quit to achieve these goals. This trajectory is young in its
timeline. I have a long way to go in achieving everything in it but hope to have the opportunity to
continue working with students and in leadership each step of the way. Planning your life on
paper is easy; it is the work that has to be done that is challenging. This trajectory will stretch me
in ways I havent been stretched before. I am challenged to work against my natural instincts to
give up on things that are hard and will need encouragement from professors and mentors like
my director and my colleague in the MBA office now. However, if I start something I want to
finish it and make every effort to complete my tasks, big or small, with excellence.