Going Beyond the Confines of Traditional Advising Roles - Adventures in Advising

In episode 99, we chat with Tashauna Stewart, academic advisor in the Lee Business School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Tashauna discusses going beyond the confines of traditional advising roles, developing and co-coordinating advisor professional development opportunities through micro-externships, and supporting students through tragedy. Guest hosted by Dr. Marcedes Butler, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 

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Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hey there, it's great to have you back with us listening to the adventures in advising podcast if you can believe it, we are at episode 99. And just like we do every so often we bring back a past guest to come back on the pod to host an interview our special guests for the episode. So without further ado, let's welcome back Dr. Marcedes Butler from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. For Dr. Butler's previous interview, check out episode 44 titled finding inspiration and motivation. But since it's been a while, let me tell you a little bit more about Dr. Marcedes Butler. Marcedes holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Southern California and a Master of Science and Counseling and Student Development in higher education from California State University Long Beach. Marcedes seamlessly navigates between faculty and administrative roles. Currently, Marcedes serves as a Boys and Girls Club of Southern Nevada fellow in partnership with the collaborative educational programs and the College of Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Additionally, she is the founder of academic help 101.com and an active member of NACADA. She previously served as the Nevada liaison and currently holds the role of membership and awards coordinator on the Nevada region nine steering committee. Marcedes, Welcome back to adventures and advising and being this episode's host.

Marcedes Butler  
Thank you, Matt, for allowing me to guest host today. You know, it really is a full circle moment for me transitioning from being a guest on the podcast and 21 to this hosting role. And I'm excited to continue the conversation with our esteemed guests today, and looking forward to learning so much. Let's get started. Tashauna Stewart's journey began in Jamaica, where she spent her formative years before making a life changing move to Las Vegas in 2009. Her educational pursuit led her to earn a Bachelor of Science in Human Development, and Family Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a master's of education and counseling, and student affairs from Northern Arizona University. Currently serving as an academic advisor within the Lee business school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Tashauna's dedication to student success goes beyond the confines of traditional advising roles. In addition to guiding students through academic pathways, she also served as the advisor for Lee business connection, a pivotal student organization fostering professional growth and networking opportunities. Furthermore, Tashauna impacts her wisdom as an instructor for the first year seminar course tailored for business students enriching their college experience as a first generation student, a person of color and an immigrant Tashauna's identity have formed her unwavering commitment to serving students from diverse backgrounds. Her passion for and inclusitivity. And equity drives her mission to empower students along college journey and ensure that they feel supported and valued at every step. Beyond her professional endeavors Tashauna finds fulfillment in spending quality time with family and friends and exploring new destination, embracing the joy of dance fitness. With a profound dedication to higher education and a relentless pursuit of professional and personal growth Tashauna aims to continue making meaningful contributions to the field. Her aspirations include advocating for increased college access, particularly for a marginalized student population. She's even contemplating pursuing a doctoral degree in higher education leadership. Tashauna and I had a chance encounter at the TED X UNLV event where I was a speaker. We met in person for the first time at a Sister Circle lunch meeting, and I'm excited to learn more about her journey. With great pleasure. We welcome her to the podcast, where insights and experiences will inspire our listeners. Welcome.

Tashauna Stewart  
Hello, thank you so much for that intro. I am so happy to be here. So excited to get into it and share a little bit more about my journey and my story. 

Marcedes Butler  
Let's get started. Can you tell us about your journey into higher education and what inspired you to pursue a career in academic advising? 

Tashauna Stewart  
So I kind of feel like the general idea and consensus is, you know, no one goes into college or comes out of high school wanting to work in higher ed because first of all, we don't really know what higher ed is. But I do know that for me, education has just always been such a great value that was imparted on me by my parents and grandparents. So from a very young age, I actually wanted to be a teacher. So when I started at the University of Nevada, Reno, I was actually doing a major in early childhood education. I wanted to work in kindergarten through second grade, I refused to do anything higher than second grade, which I think it's ironic now that I work with college students, but I just didn't know it at the time. I did not stay in elementary education for a long time, I actually ended up changing my major to Human Development and Family Studies, because I learned about it. It was a part of the College of Education at U and R. And I realized that that one just had a lot more career paths that I could take that I was really interested in, because I realized, I did not want to be in the classroom full time. So I ended up getting my degree in Human Development and Family Studies. Throughout college, I was a resident assistant. So I worked in the residential halls, helping these students transition and acclimate to the college experience. I was also a student ambassador giving tours on campus and doing recruitment events. I interned with trio scholars at one point, and I was able to attend the NASPA Conference, which is the governing organization for Student Affairs. So all of those kind of exposed me a little bit more to the world of higher education. Towards the end of my undergrad career, I was kind of deciding between, do I want to do student affairs, or do I want to do social work, because out of my human development program, I kind of decided on Social Work at the time, but then having these other experiences, I started to think about higher ed and Student Affairs, the national conferences, probably what sealed it with Student Affairs for me. So that led me to applying to my Master's in Counseling student affairs program at Northern Arizona University where I continued in graduate assistant roles within residential life, we had a college resort, College and Career Resource Center, working with Upward Bound. So all of that kind of kept me within the higher education realm. And then once I was ready to graduate, it was time to apply for jobs. And I wanted to move back to Las Vegas, because this is where my family is for right now. So I wanted to be back here. First, I started applying to jobs at UNLV. I kind of stumbled into academic advising as well, because I wanted to do a lot of college access. And then I kind of thought about my experiences. My goal at the time when I was graduating grad school is that one day, I wanted to be a director of some sort of college access program. So my kind of strategy was looking at all the things I've done already. And what other experiences can I gain that would eventually helped me get to that role. And from my undergrad and grad experiences, I did a lot of student life, but not a lot of academics. So I wanted to get that experience in academics. And that's how I ended up applying for an academic advising role. And thankfully got this role at UNLV within Elite Business School. So that's kind of been my journey. So far. This is still my first job out of grad school. And I just couldn't be more grateful for that. 

Marcedes Butler  
What caught me was that extended kind of college time, like going back to back from the bachelor's degree to the masters. Were you also working in those kind of access higher education roles, that's when you're working in housing, when you are getting a master's degree, kind of tell me how that connected from undergrad to your master's?

Tashauna Stewart  
Yeah. So in undergrad I worked as a resident assistant for essentially all the years after my first year. So they always said I, you know, you drink the Student Affairs Kool Aid. And I was kind of exposed to those folks who are in those roles. I did have a mentor at the time, she worked for a program at you and are called first in the pack. And she had gone through a master's program in higher ed. So I would have that person to talk to to kind of help coach me and lead me talk through my options. And so I decided I wanted to continue doing that. So then my graduate program actually required me to have a graduate assistantship. So this was at Northern Arizona University. I was a graduate assistant there within residential life. I was not a hall director. I did not want to be on call. But I was more of a supportive role where I oversaw our Community Development Center that the RA's utilized for their community building efforts. And then I was also an advisor for student organization, the National residence hall honorary within that. So all of that kept me there. In our program, we were also required to have an internship. And that's how I stumbled on the northern Arizona college Resource Center, which is housed at NAU. So I worked with them for all the time I was there, actually, I really loved it. I kept working there, actually after my internship hours, and I was I ended up being an AmeriCorps member with them, because that's typically how they hire their folks to work there. I was assigned to a high school in Arizona that I would visit weekly, and work with the students there on all things career, and college readiness, from resumes to getting involved, which I actually really, really loved. And then during the summers for grad school, I worked as an academy manager for the upper bound summer program where they bring those high school students on campus to kind of get that college experience. So all of those kind of solidified for me that, you know, I wanted to work in higher ed, I enjoyed that work that I was doing, especially with college access. So that's how that connection kind of came about for me. 

Marcedes Butler  
Today, marks actually five years that I've been working at UNLV. And so you've been at UNLV, two years. July will be three years actually. July will be three years. Yeah, like I mentioned, I heard your name early on, like super active on campus, that twist and turn to being nominated for an avocado war being able to present I mean, summarize those your experiences. And these last three years kind of bond campus and how that's intertwine into NACADA. 

Tashauna Stewart  
Yeah. So, coming to UNLV was was new for me. And as a student from you, and our if you know about the rivalry, the rivalry at U nr is very strong. But again, Las Vegas has been home since I moved from Jamaica. So I wanted to come back home. And I admired the fact that you know, VI was just such a large school with a diverse student population. So I definitely wanted to work here. My first year was was pretty low key, you know, trying to get a hang of the advisor role trying to figure out what my kind of style of advising was, what does it look like what all the resources are getting myself acclimated to campus, which I'm so thankful that I've had a supportive team within our office to help me do that. And then the more and more I heard about different opportunities, I am the type of person to jump on almost every opportunity I hear about, I do have a problem saying no, or taking on too much. But I started going to our advising council meetings, which is our larger advising community meetings for advisors across campus here. And this is where I started to hear about the kata and wanting to go to the kata conferences. And then later on in probably the end of 2022 is when one of my colleagues came to us with the subsea grant information. And Stupski is a nonprofit, private foundation that funds education initiatives. They are a sponsor within NACADA. And they put out that call for proposals for advisors to create their own initiatives on campus. That is catered to advisor wellness. They really wanted these initiatives to come from advisors themselves. I will say I was hesitant at first because I was like, Well, I'm still kind of new to this. I'm only about a year or so. And I'm really just here to help students. Like I love my peers. I'm really here to help students. I haven't been doing this long enough to feel like I know how to better support advisors. But my colleagues were so supportive and we just come together brainstorm. And that really just kicked off my involvement with NACADA. We were able to write and also when the grant that we were going for so that we can implement our initiatives on campus, which then led to me going to NACADAconferences. Actually, I did go to an aquatic conference. That grant I believe in October.

Marcedes Butler  
Was that Orlando? Per my notes that was Orlando?

Tashauna Stewart  
Orlando, but before Orlando actually went to Portland, he went to Portland, okay, Portland as well. So Orlando came after. So Portland was my first one and then it was Vegas in like February and then. So that's three NACADA conferences in less than three years, which I'm very grateful because I do enjoy going to conferences and getting the opportunity to network, learn from others in the field and really just immerse myself into the experience. So I really had a lot of fun with those.

Marcedes Butler  
And you they have a great segue, just going back to the Lee Business School advising team where I've had a chance to work closely with and had a connection with helping, working grown adults graduate with their business degree really know like the synergy and the collective efficacy that you have. So just talk a little bit about being an advisor, particularly in elite business school where we know like every university everybody want to be a business major. There are prereqs on prereqs on prereqs. Yes. And the advising structure, for my opinion, and what I've observed is structured and information. Talk a little bit about that from the inside out.

Tashauna Stewart  
Yeah, so advising of Elite Business School is unique. But I'm also biased because I don't really have anything to compare it to what you don't have any other advising experiences. But we do have a pretty large caseload of students. They're very driven students, which is really awesome. They come from all walks of life, which is something that drew me to this role is getting the opportunity to work with just a diverse population of students, you know, you have your students who are coming straight out of high school, to we have veteran students who have served our country for years, and now they're coming back to get their degrees, and everything in between. So that's a really positive part of it. We have a lot of prerequisites for our classes. So you know, a lot of our appointments tend to be going over and explaining those requisites and requirements. And, you know, my one of my main goal as an advisor is I want to empower students through information and knowledge. So I tried to, even though sometimes it could be information overload, because there's just a lot that they need to do, or a lot that they need to know, I try to spend as much time as I can, really diving into the requirements to make sure that they have an understanding of the requirements. And then they're able to work around that to create their schedules and, you know, implement extracurricular activities, maybe internships, and all of those amazing opportunities. So I would say that's my experience with advising, it's appointment heavy, which I know is pretty common across advising centers. So throughout the days, our days, are split with appointments and admin time, because of course, we have, you know, 50 million emails to get to as well. Which is a challenge at times, because sometimes I just sit there, I watch my emails filling up, but I have back to back appointments. So you're trying to sneak in a response in between. And it can be a lot. I think sometimes we we try to we try to continuously think of ways to empower students to find a lot of information on their own. Because they'll email us for things or I'm like, you've probably could have googled that and get a response within two minutes from the website. So trying to navigate a lot of those those questions can be challenging at times, but it works. It's rewarding as well. 

Marcedes Butler  
You're also teaching that's also an elite business school. Is that the first or second year? Is that equivalent to your first or second year seminar?

Tashauna Stewart  
First? Yeah, I teach business 103, which is titled, business connections. So that's our first year seminar course for business students, but it is open to anybody who wants to take that first year seminar class. And that one I started within fall 23 might have been 2022. Sorry, probably was my first semester. I taught Fall 2022 Fall 23. And I'm currently teaching this spring as well. So we essentially have a class of about 24 First year students. As we know that kind of transition from high school to college kind of hits you like a truck at times you don't really know what to expect. So the goal of that class is really to help students along that transition and help them develop their toolbox of skills and resources that they can utilize throughout their college journey. We spend some time talking about career stuff. So this last week we did networking, talked about how to do an elevator pitch, how to introduce yourselves. We do resumes, we explore different career options within business, alongside the general college stuff, like how to manage your time getting involved. So I really enjoy that part of it. Because it breaks up my day a little bit, I get to be in the classroom, right? Going back to how I wanted to be a teacher. But remember, that was like kindergarten through second grade, not college. But now, I do teach scholar students and I have a lot of fun with it. I really do. I enjoy it a lot.

Marcedes Butler  
Do you think and I mean, I found this that teaching the first and second year seminar classes kind of impacted the way I advise and kind of let me know what was really going on in these college streets. And so I was able to adjust maybe some of my meetings with students that I do not teach because I had a better understanding of what was going on on campus, or kind of what the vibe was with different instructors or classes. Have you found that to be similar experience?

Tashauna Stewart  
I think for me, it might be the other way around. Okay. So I think I take the things that I hear from advising. And I kind of observe what the students are doing maybe what questions they have. And then I try to implement that in my classes. Because I want to catch those questions and challenges earlier. Okay. Right. So as my juniors are coming to me with those questions, I want to prepare my first year students with those questions and resources. So I would say probably flipped for me, but maybe I just need to pay more attention to see if it's the other way as well. But off the top of my head. Yeah, my advising influences my teaching.

Marcedes Butler  
And I definitely thinking and go back and forth, and vice versa. But it was it was interesting, just the information. In particular, I was dealing with second year seminar, you know, that can include people with various unit amounts. And so it was really impressive some of the information, I think that is really kind of a segue into, you know, a topic that's kind of discussed, really and truly in regards to advising and supporting students through tragedy. And if you're listening, you're not aware UNLV experienced horrific tragedy on December 6 2023, that we are still processing and dealing with individually and collectively. I know that the tragedy directly impacted the Lee School of Business Building. That's where your office is located. The dean's office. And so I want I want, I want to know, your thoughts and feelings and emotions from that day to current professionally, personally, and what you would kind of like to share about that. 

Tashauna Stewart  
It's been a lot. I'm not gonna lie. I did wear my UNLV strong shirt today, if you can see that, in support of everything, but it was just horrific. Like you said, The day started normal, right? It was a normal day. I was on campus, I was not in the building at the time. Thankfully, I was in the building next door at a class with one of my colleagues. The students were doing their end of semester Shark Tank presentation. It was all exciting and everything happening. Then of course, we all got the text alert from the university and it's like, our hearts just sank immediately. You can just feel it all over the room. Thankfully, we were in a room where we were able to use our card to lock the door. So my colleague decided that we were just going to stay put until we were cleared to go. So that's what we did. But during that time, it was just trying to be there for our students comforting them, you know, encouraging them to talk with their support ones, their loved ones call their family members. But I would say that that incident really just changed everything right at the end of the semester coming up on finals. Registration is still happening within the lead business school, our students don't have to apply for their majors. And I think the hard part for me was that nothing stopped. You know, like, we were still on, go go go mode. I don't know, it felt interesting at times. Because sometimes I couldn't tell if the students really recognize what had happened. And this is not every student. But I felt like the demands from the students to respond to their emails and to get their their appointments rescheduled was a lot, it was a lot. And I know for them, maybe it was just, well, business still has to get done, right? I still need to figure this out. And of course, we were still there for them. We were of course, also still encouraged to take time if we needed to, and I did, it did change a lot, though, because we moved from working on campus, getting to see our students and connect with them, to them having to just work fully remote, okay, which was different, a lot of our appointments were still remote, because we had that option for students, they could choose remote or in person. And I probably say more than half of them are still choosing remotes. But there's a handful of students who really dread it to have that in person connection again, you know, back from COVID, right, and then like, hey, we need to be in person again and see each other. And then it's like, oh, JK, never, never mind right now not go back to this virtual model, which is what we have right now. So we're still working remotely. So that effect has continued. Our building has been offline for this semester. So there's no student traffic, there's no classes in that building for this semester. Our services are also still remote. If you do have an office, so the faculty and staff that have offices in the building, they do have access to it. So on the days that I teach, I do go on campus. But it feels very different. It's very quiet. Yeah, we have security guards that are posted inside and out front of the building, which is really nice. But it's also one of my colleagues said it nice not nicely, but they put they worded it in a good way where it's like it's a constant reminder of what happened. And like, why we need to be in this model. And I will make it clear, I did have the option to change my class to a virtual platform. But I don't like being virtual all the time. I need a little break I need to get on. So I needed those two days to be not at my house. So I did choose to keep I did make that personal decision to keep my class in person, which means me going to campus on those days. But yeah, everything just feels different. Have a lot of questions, students have a lot of concerns that I always have the answers to because we're they don't recognize that. But we're in the same boat as they do as they are, you know, I spoke with a student last week and she was concerned that, you know, the fall schedule is about to be released. And the question was, What if there's just one class I need to take and the only section available is in BEH. Because they did make the decision that we are going to be open back in the fall.

Marcedes Butler  
Is this breaking news?

Tashauna Stewart  
They sent out an email last week, it it just came out last week that classes will resume in our building for the fall semester. So you know, those those student questions are filtering in. And she was basically asking, you know, if this is the only section for that class she needs? Can she change it? And it's like, I don't know. You know, I don't know what that's gonna look like. And she's just concerned like, there's some students who don't want to be back in the building, right, some staff who also don't want to be back in the building. Yeah, so we're all kind of in the same boat, just waiting, and just seeing how things are going. 

Marcedes Butler  
I was going to twist and turn and one thing that I really enjoy about working at UNLV and having the chance to work directly with the leadership is that I know they will be intentional and will do whatever it is to support the students added additional web basic sections. And so UNLV is pro pro pro pro student success and resource resources. And so, you know, that's, that's why I want to really just open up and kind of discuss that question with you because again, it's like you you're dealing with it in both ways, again, professionally, and personally and just want to thank you for showing Enough is showing out for students, it really is appreciated. It's really needed. When the CEO of the boys and girls told me everything is different, but the same, and life goes on. I was I was like, he was like, Well, we I graduated. That was gonna be my, where you guys require to participate in graduation? Because UNLV we moved. We move right along.

Tashauna Stewart  
Yeah, we've never had a requirement to participate in graduation. So, before after the incident, that was never a requirement. We do, we can volunteer if we want to. So I volunteered on the seating committee. Just because I don't know. I like to be at things like that.

Marcedes Butler  
Always involved.

Tashauna Stewart  
Exactly, exactly. So yeah, that hopefully answers the question required. I did sign up to volunteer on commencement day, but I ended up not doing that. Because the way the timing was set up, my plan was I was going to be on campus, go to graduation, come back, just get back to work. But now that we were at home, it didn't make sense for me to like drive to campus in the middle of the day when I had appointments before and after that time, so I was not able to do so. But I knew that students so appreciated having the opportunity to celebrate their successes, regardless of you know, the incident that happened. So in that way, I am glad that they still had it. Because, you know, there's some students back in COVID, who didn't get to have their graduation. That's like a huge bummer. And I'm sure it would have been a huge bummer for a lot of students as well this time. So I'm glad that did it. But I was I did not go.

Marcedes Butler  
And if you don't know, UNLV gives the best graduation. Okay, well, you think Vegas, put two and two together, they do a great job at hosting on graduation. And we know how important it is to really celebrate that milestone of degree completion degree conferral. And again, what UNLV having to make some really difficult and hard decisions, right. And I think in the midst of it all, they are doing a great job and working kind of with what they got. And so given all of that. I mean, are you staying motivated to continue in higher education? I mean, that was more than enough to take a break with your careers. Yeah. What are some of the you know, maybe even wellness or just what's keeping, you know, students story, what's keeping you motivated to continue? 

Tashauna Stewart  
I am a person who leads from passion. And I've always just had a passion for education and for helping people, seeing students succeed, seeing seeing students move through their college careers, giving advice and things like that. So as cliche as it sounds, that really does help keep me motivated. I love seeing the students graduate, like we talked about, I got to see a lot of them at the last commencement that I went to, and it was just so nice to see them, and give them hugs and high fives and all that good stuff. conversations that I have with students, but also the colleagues, you there's a lot of great people like yourself, Dr. Butler, who work at UNLV that I get to connect with and do different things like coaching the 10 speakers that really keep me motivated. So it's really just the people around me, for sure. There's lots of opportunities to be involved and really appreciative of my supervisor who is our director in our advising center who, you know, really caters to what I want my professional development to look like. So if there is a conference that I want to go to, or a networking session or anything like that, she's never really told me know, anything I want to be involved with. And I really just appreciate that support. So I can have my advising, but I can also do different things like the teaching and being involved with NACADA and Stupski and really getting to do all those things to kind of mix it up so it's not all the same all the time. And then of course there's you know, self care, I like to do dance fitness, go to the gym, that's my way of decompressing after a long work day just close my computer. I'm better at not checking emails out of work time, but you know, we all struggle all the time. At one point I had my email deleted from my phone but I got it back. But I really don't check it as much I try to make sure that you know my work stays within those work hours. And again, appreciative that in my office we have a culture where like, yeah, no, it's not work time anymore. Like don't be answering your emails don't be doing anything. So that really allows me to leave work at work or after 5pm Just do what makes me happy. I've been reading a little bit lately. I love reality TV. So all the trash reality.

Marcedes Butler  
Trash TV, yes, I'm into it also.

Tashauna Stewart  
Those just didn't escape for a little bit. So yeah, that's kind of, you know, how I stay motivated how I decompress for myself and then of course, professional development. We launched the micro externship program and I also participate in that micro externship program, which we didn't talk about earlier. So I guess I should share. That's like a big thing that I do. So with the stuffy grant that we received, one of our initiatives is a micro externship program where academic advisors on campus get to shadow different units that are not advising units. So things like the Registrar's Office financial aid, the IT office gets a shadow and it's one an opportunity for them to just get out of their offices, network and connect with other colleagues on campus. And to it's kind of making the wait for us to break down silos so that we can better communicate and collaborate so that we can support students. So that's an initiative we rolled out in the spring of 2023. And at this point, we've had over probably 50 advisors I know in the first semester, about 30 alone in the first semester, and then we've had more since then. So I also participate in the externship alongside, you know, coordinating the program with my colleague. So this semester, I am extra running with the office of admissions, and getting all about their processes and hopefully get that in awesome recruitment event. So for me right now, that's kind of my source of professional development. 

Marcedes Butler  
I'll tell our colleagues over at admission super, super high. No, no, let's learn about their whole process always say Admissions, Financial Aid registration, keep the university running. So that's super cool. I actually remember when you first was introducing it to the advising council that was even before launching it, so to see that over 50 advisors have participated is that's awesome. Again, that's why I love UNLV people like no, you don't like yes, I do. It's a lot of things going on. Because the good definitely outweighs the bad. And there's a lot of intention, ality in regards to advising and professional development, especially if you take the initiative and, you know, get involved. So, I mean, what's next for you? What, what else do you have going on at UNLV? Or even off campus?

Tashauna Stewart  
What do I have going on? I feel like I've hmm, I don't have a perfect answer to that question. I am here I am enjoying all of it. The micro externship has kind of been like my baby over the last year. So that still has a lot of my focus, just continuing to be a better higher ed professional. You did mention in my bio, I am interested in getting a doctoral degree at some point, I haven't really started the process of that yet. I did tell myself I wanted to, you know, be in my first role for around three to five years before I started looking into that which coming up on my three year marks, I should probably start looking at soon there is an opportunity to move up or seek to move up as a senior academic advisor in my college. So I'm hoping to have conversations with my director about that. So that I can continue within that role. But that's kind of the that's kind of it. You know, we're, we're chilling in a way I feel like with me going from high school to college to grad school to now work I at one point I looked forward to not looking forward to the next move to just kind of be a little bit but not for too long. I think that you know, within my role and within all the opportunities that you know v and Akata has provided me I don't necessarily feel bored or complacent. Like there's always things happening.

Marcedes Butler  
There's always stuff to do, yes.

Tashauna Stewart  
thing so I don't necessarily feel that push yet to try and figure out what's next which is okay, because I will probably stress myself out if I start to do that. Okay, But definitely looking forward to a doctoral degree in the future. So wish me all the luck, I'm going to hit you up for all your advice and everything. Once I do that, you know, maybe I'll finally add a UNLV degree.

Marcedes Butler  
Okay, well, they have part II the real U N L V. Yes. And, you know, shameless plug UNLV, the College of Education has a great doctorial program, I don't know, I have this theme that I do with every campus that I work at, I get some type of degree. So at UNLV, I earned a graduate certificate in nonprofit management, like I have this thing. So yes, I'll be here to support you in any way that you need.

Tashauna Stewart  
I appreciate that. Thank you. 

Marcedes Butler  
So, as we come to a close, any last words or information or best practices or quotes that you would like to share with the audience? 

Tashauna Stewart  
The first, maybe the first quote that comes to mind is do what you love and love what you do. That's just something that's been stuck with me. And I recognize that I've had the privilege of choosing the jobs I want to choose. And choosing those jobs based off of my passion and my own interests, not because I need to have like, do you need to have a job? You know what I mean? So yeah, I've been grateful that you know, all the roles I've been in, it's truly out of my passion for serving people. And then also just advice that being open to change and being open to different experiences. I never thought that I would be an academic advisor. But you know, it all goes back to what are your core values, and what it is that you want to do, and that couldn't look different? So I'm not the teacher, I thought I wanted to be in K through 12. Right. But my passion and my goal back then was to serve people and, you know, instill the value of education and others. And I'm still doing that through higher ed through advising through our first year seminar through our organizations. So you know, not limiting yourself with your options. So start with your values and your passions, and that really just opens up a world of opportunities to to take on.

Marcedes Butler  
Anything else?

Tashauna Stewart  
No, I think that's it. i This is so exciting. I'm appreciative that you and Matt had me on here today to just share about my experience, and I'm open to questions if anyone has questions or anything like that. So connect on LinkedIn, chit chat, and all that good stuff. 

Marcedes Butler  
As we conclude this insightful conversation with Tashuana Stewart. I want to express my gratitude for your willingness to share your journey and experiences in higher education. Your dedication to supporting students achievements and your resilience and facing challenges inspire us all want to say thank you again, and I look forward to chatting with you soon.

Tashauna Stewart  
Thank you so much.