After graduation is a highly unpredictable and foggy area for most students. Even those who may be sure of their career path could end up going down a path that they weren’t expecting. Chief of staff, Mic Howe, never expected to be in an administrative assistants position in a university.
Howe started out with a 26-year long career working as an escrow officer, working with first-time homebuyers and managing a real-estate office.
There were many little events that led up to Howe coming to Pacific University. Howe’s first encounter with President Lesley Hallick was in working to help President Hallick find a home in Forest Grove.
Hallick also took the time to speak with Howe’s daughter when she was still deciding whether she wanted to be a nurse or not.
“It was amazing,” said Howe. “The way that she talks to students or prospective students.” Howe’s daughter did end up becoming a nurse at an out-of state school.
Howe had another encounter with President Hallick before coming to Pacific. Howe attended a commencement ceremony in Scappoose where Hallick was the guest speaker there.
When Howe finally did make the decision to come to the Pacific community three years ago, Howe left her 26-year-long career behind to start something new.
According to Howe, what she does on a day-to-day basis is never the same. Currently her major focus is working with the Board of Trustees, but Howe is also on several committees, the honors and awards committee, the faculty and staff awards committee, commencement and convocation committees.
What Howe loves most about her job is being able to work with people and here at Pacific that is what she does.
“It’s kind of like working with a puzzle, it starts all messy and then you make sure it all got put together,” said Howe “You get those puzzles and you wonder how you’re going to put it together and that is the fun of it.”
Although Howe doesn’t get to see the students very often, she wanted to let students know that even though her office may seem unreachable because, “it is on the third floor of Marsh Hall and no one ventures up here,” said Howe “We’d love to have [students] come up and visit.”
One of Howe’s favorite memories of working on campus was her first time watching the graduation ceremony. “The whole reason that we are here is because of you, to make sure that you get your education,” said Howe. “And to think that I was a part of that, it is a really, really rich experience getting to watch students do that.”
Even though we may not know where we are going to end up in life, according to Howe, “it’s funny how the little things in your life can guide you in a direction and you don’t even realize it.”
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