Donna Hickson
Title:
Student Accounts Specialist 1
Years at UCF:
46+ years in Student Account Services Collections, 2 years as a Student Assistant in Student Accounts
UCF Degrees:
B.S.B.A. Finance, minor in Computer Science (1981)
What she does for UCF:
My team works across campus to help students and families navigate questions about their accounts, especially when something isn’t clear or they’ve been working through different areas to find answers. Often, we’re one of the first areas contacted, and I try to make sure they leave with a better understanding of what they need and where to go next. I work closely with colleagues across the university to help direct students to the right areas, figure out what they need, and make sure they’re asking the right questions to get the answers they’re looking for. It’s about listening, understanding the full picture, and helping students move forward.
1. What made you want to call UCF home?
I enjoyed my experience as a student and loved the work I did as a student assistant, as well as the students and employees I worked alongside. I love how the campus is laid out and the amount of green space. It helps keep me grounded.
2. What’s one small thing about UCF that still makes you smile?
When I was hired as a full-time employee, my supervisor made me promise to stay at least one year. Hopefully, I am close to fulfilling that request.
3. What’s one thing you wish more people would know about the work you do?
That what I do is not just a job for me. I love the contact with students, staff, parents, and others and strive to assist with whatever I can to make the UCF experience easier, more friendly, and more personable. I try to treat those I encounter as I would like to be treated. All of what we do at UCF is interconnected in some way. A lot of my job is solving a mystery in that students and parents don’t always know the right question to ask to get the answer that they are really looking for. My longevity at the university, I think, helps me ask the right questions to understand the problem.
4. Outside of work, what’s something that brings you joy or helps you recharge?
Nature recharges me. Sea Turtle patrol on Manasota Key on the west coast of Florida, collecting shark teeth, and trash (beach cleanup), or just walking the beach with amazing sunrises and sunsets. Walking on nature trails locally or in the mountains also is relaxing, but if I can’t do any of those things, working in the yard or walking near and on campus also helps to ground me, recharge me or relax me.
5. Based on your years of service, what is something you think today’s staff should understand about UCF’s early years that still matters today?
Each of the students coming here needs to be treated as individuals who all have different needs. Listen to what is being said or asked and ask some questions yourself to help narrow down what the real question is. Take the time in this fast-paced world. One person, one call at a time.
Charles “Chuck” D. Dziuban, Ph.D.
Title:
Inaugural Pegasus Professor, Founding Director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, Director of the Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness, and Faculty Administrator
Years at UCF:
55
What he does for UCF:
Conduct research on technology-mediated education and support the Rosen educational philanthropic initiatives.
1. What made you want to call UCF home?
Florida Technological University (FTU) was young, agile, and staffed with enthusiastic people who were committed to providing a superior educational environment and to building a great university. Everywhere you looked, opportunity was just around the corner. There was an environment that encouraged you to continually reinvent yourself–a fun place to work.
2. What’s one small thing about UCF that still makes you smile?
Although we have grown almost exponentially and emerged onto the international stage, the values and commitments of those beginning stages and still in place and stronger than ever. UCF is a university where you can continually reinvent yourself. All it takes is an idea.
3. What’s one thing you wish more people would know about the work you do?
I hope that people better understand how committed I am to do the right thing for my students, my colleagues, my university, my community, and my profession-no matter the cost. Always do your best and never give up. Harris Rosen taught me that.
4. What has remained constant and what has changed about digital learning from when it launched at UCF in 1996 to today?
Digital learning at UCF has evolved from an experimental fringe initiative to a mainstay component of our teaching and learning platform. Over the years we learned that effective universities must be outreach institutions that project learning to students. Digital learning has become seamless at UCF to the point where in the future we may no longer identify course modalities.
5. How has UCF’s impact on students changed over the years and what has stayed true about the kind of opportunities we create?
The major change in the impact of UCF on students has been that of scale. There are so many more of them than in the early days. However, what has remained constant is that no matter what the circumstance or challenge, we are primarily a university committed to our students.