The 2023 Women of UD

Heather R. Parsons

 

COORDINATOR OF ACADEMIC ADVISING AND DEPARTMENTAL INITIATIVES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

“In my department they jokingly call me the ‘comm mom’. I love being a mom, so being a mom to 500+ students is even better! I genuinely get excited for each one of these students.  It’s just about creating relationships. I know about their lives, their breakups, their roommate issues, their family issues…it is so rewarding to watch those students from 18 years old, to go through learning about themselves, and I get to see them graduate...it's the best job ever. 

When these students come into my office, I think ‘If those were my kids in front of me, what advice would I want to give them?’ And I want them to see my face outside of the office, that this is a genuine relationship, not a fake relationship. I go to their events, their grad parties…I want to celebrate with them and be with them and meet their parents. And I get to see them after they graduate, start their own families and create awesome careers. I don’t feel like what I do is work because I literally get to come to a place that I absolutely love and be with people that I absolutely adore.

90s music is my favorite. I won’t put it on when I have to think a lot because I get distracted and start singing! It’s very nostalgic. I’ve been here since the early 90s so this is definitely home, I can’t see myself anywhere else. I went to school here, did my undergrad in communications, and I was afraid to go out into the real world so I did grad school here. Well I went into the real world for two years before coming back to teach in communications. I’ve been here for 23 years as an actual employee…the feel has been the same since I was an undergrad here. Buildings may be different but the experiences are the same. It's funny because students will tell me stories about life in the neighborhood and I will tell them ‘Yep, I know!’ To me it's not just community, it's family. Literally you can be down in Florida with a UD shirt and you’ll hear ‘Go Flyers!’ The alum will do anything for UD and it says a lot about their experience here.

I have constant visitors to my office. Sometimes it's for actual work, sometimes it's just touching base, sometimes work comes out of touching base. Everyday is different and it is always busy. And I have so much candy in my office. If you come you’re getting a chocolate fix. I want it to feel comfortable and not too institutional. I also get the 2:30, 3am texts. Sometimes it’s about dropping a philosophy class, but sometimes it's ‘My roommate is threatening me’ or ‘I'm feeling really low right now I don’t know what to do.’ It’s not just about seeing the students being successful, but those moments of being defeated, in depression, and to be able to be their support system. When I see them go through the hills and valleys, and they are suffering, and they climb to the top and we look back, it's a celebration. Watching them grow is a defining moment for me everytime that happens, and it happens all the time.

Here at UD we talk a lot about discerning our vocation and finding our true calling. And I talk to our first year students, and I talk to our seniors in their vocation capstone, and all in between. Students think they have to know what their purpose is at that moment, and I tell them the question to be asking is not what you want to do in your life but what kind of person you actually want to be. Finding your passions, things that excite you, gets you up every day...that’s your true calling. My true calling is literally helping and listening, and just being here for all these students. They are what get me up every day.”