Meet Haley: Higher education and student affairs

I’m originally from Kalamazoo and I’ve been here my entire life so WMU seemed like the natural option for college. I completed my undergraduate program here as well. Like Kalamazoo, WMU is a good mix of feeling big and small at the same time. For example, HESA offers small class sizes but all kinds of big opportunities. Personally, I’m more of an introvert, and this program has helped bring me out of my comfort zone, but at the same time, I was already familiar with WMU, so that was attractive to me when considering graduate school.

I was applying to graduate school in 2020, which was obviously a weird and scary time, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the HESA program has been a great fit for me and I would recommend it to others. Even if you are like me and don’t know exactly what direction you want your career to take you, the program is extremely versatile. I feel prepared for a broad range of opportunities in higher education.

I served as a Learning Assistant for a Race & Gender issues course in the Philosophy Department. This was a really great opportunity for me since I double-majored in Philosophy and Communication Studies during my bachelor’s program, and I wanted to gain some teaching experience. I also continued my position as a Marketing & Communication Assistant in the Office of Admissions, which gave me professional marketing experience in a higher education setting.

I oversee the annual registration process for all registered student organizations and am currently helping them navigate the transition from the Bernhard Center to the new Student Center. I also serve as an advisor to WMU’s Campus Activities Board (CAB). I’m working on a new podcast called “podCAB” that will air on our campus radio station each week. The core goal with this podcast is to give CAB members a new platform to market themselves and promote their organization to the rest of the campus community. I also feel like it will bring a more human element into what they do, letting them introduce themselves as individuals and talk about why they love being a part of CAB. 

The WMU Signature program is an opportunity to create a self-led project that you complete through Career and Student Employment Services, and then you get a specialty printed on your degree. The pathway I selected is Arts & Culture, since I try to bring my personal creativity into everything I do. I think this will help me stand out as a uniquely qualified HESA professional as I step into my career.