For more than 25 years as an Academic Advisor in the School of Accountancy (SOA), Julie Averett has guided thousands of our Master of Accountancy (MAcc) students through to graduation. Despite those large numbers, she has treated each as an individual. While technology has certainly streamlined the advisement process from the days of 700 paper files (one for each student actively enrolled), the personal connection Julie makes and maintains with students is the real innovation that the School of Accountancy has benefited from in delivering our world class program. You can read more about Julie's years of service in the following article written as part of the SOA Annual Report: SOA Annual Report
Just a few weeks ago, I was in Julie's office when a couple stopped by. They were both graduates of the MAcc program. They were on campus visiting their children and early morning seminary students for lunch and decided to stop by Julie's office. She knew details of their family situation, their work situation, and even recalled details of their time in the program. On another occasion, I was visiting with a student that was in my internship class who was thinking about making changes to his schedule. I decided the easiest thing would be to go down to Julie's office to see what she could do. We told her of the situation and the cascading changes needed to be made to get the student enrolled in one desired
class. In less than a minute she had made all the changes. The student and I couldn't believe how quick and easy Julie made it! I know from other students this is not an isolated incident. These are but two examples of how Julie demonstrates her competency as an advisor, continually exceeds customer expectations, and creates a sense of belonging through her engagement with students. What makes her a legend in the eyes of faculty and alumni is she has made this personal connection and delivered this excellent service to thousands of students over her 27 years of service.