Scott Bartlett began his career with the UI in May 2000 as an extra help office assistant, and worked at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the Office of Admissions and Records, and the department of history, until the department of history hired him as a secretary II in October 2000. In March 2001, he moved to a secretary III position at the Illini Union, where he was responsible for meeting room reservations. After 3 1/2 years, Bartlett transferred to the department of philosophy, where he now is an admissions and records representative.
What are your job responsibilities?
When I began in this position in August 2004, I took care of the undergraduate program and was the receptionist. In October 2004, I was promoted to a secretary IV and took on more duties, including the course scheduling in Banner. In May 2006, our part-time person who handled the graduate program retired, and I took over those duties and was promoted to admissions and records representative, my current classification.
My duties vary during the year. My main duties are the admissions process for graduate students in philosophy. I process their applications and give them to our admissions committee. I manage all the graduate program and undergraduate majors files for the department. I also prepare and distribute dossiers for graduate students on the job market. We have 45 graduate students now and about 120 undergraduate students, many of whom have double majors in areas such as political science, psychology and math. I also monitor the graduate students’ progress to make sure they’re making normal progress, and handle grade changes. I administer a database. I submit the paperwork to the Graduate College for graduate students’ preliminary exams and their theses defenses. I also maintain and update the department’s Web site.
My other major duty is maintaining the course schedule in Banner. I assist students who need help registering for classes; I can process overrides for them if they can’t get into a class. I request classroom space through Facility Management and Scheduling. I also work closely with our associate department chair, who makes the course teaching assignments, and I enter it into the schedule and provide him with enrollment counts every Friday. Students just finished registering for spring semester, and I give him enrollment counts, and will probably continue doing that through the beginning of January, so we’ll know if some classes are in danger of being canceled.
I order the textbooks for all the classes, do some student advising about classes and major requirements and reserve space for departmental colloquia.
Our office also ends up being information central for lost students and the lost-and-found department because we’re on the main floor. We’re a two-person department, my boss and I.
What were you doing before you came to the university?
I graduated from Oakwood High School in 1992 and from Illinois State University in December 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications-broadcasting and a minor in cinema studies, but ended up never getting a job in my field. I worked for eight years at Kmart in Danville. I then went into banking. Right before I started at the university, I moved with some friends to Marietta, Ga., trying to find a job in my field. The Weather Channel and CNN are based in Atlanta. But the cost of living was way too high, and I worked in banking again for about a month and then came back here.
What do you enjoy most about your job and what’s the most challenging part?
I like dealing with students. The most challenging part is multi-tasking because I have a lot of duties to prioritize. I get a lot of things thrown at me at one time, and I have to decide what to do first.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I like going to movies, all types. I’m a car person too, so I spend a lot of time looking at new cars. I’m on my ninth car – a 2007 Pontiac G6 – so that’s why I’m broke all the time. I also like hanging out with friends. Next semester, I’m going to start taking classes with the goal of getting a master’s degree in education. I’ll probably try to get into educational policy studies because I want to advance my career at the university.
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