On Jan. 1 Sharon Odem, formerly secretary to the vice president for academic affairs, began her new duties as the secretary to the president and the Board of Governors. Odem is excited about the new opportunities that await her in this new position.

“I think that it’s going to be really instructive about the college and how it works,” said Odem. “Until now, I have been working mostly the academic side of things, and academics will be a factor in this office, but not as heavily as in Academic Affairs.

“This is more of the business end, more of the inner structure of the college. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and different kinds of people.”

Though she has only officially worked in her new office for two weeks, Odem has already had to face a few challenges.

“The first big hurdle was the Board of Governors meeting,” Odem said. “Just getting set up for that, and meeting new people. A lot of the Governors I’ve never met before.”

As Odem was preparing for the Board meeting, the ice storm hit.

“The Friday that the ice storm was coming in was a really challenging day because that was the day that I was trying to get ready to send out the packets to the Board of Governors,” she said. “I was working on that, and taking a lot of phone calls. I think it is important to listen to people, and listen to their problems and try to solve the problem or at least try to help them find someone that could really help them the best.

“Between the packets and the phone calls I had a really tight schedule. But the people who do our mail, they worked with me. The mailperson ran through the ice and snow, and I handed the package to him. So the Governors had their information on time.”

Working with the Board of Governors is one aspect of the job that Odem anticipates.

“I’m excited about that, [attending a Board meeting] because it is the inner workings of the college, and there are different things going on,” Odem said. “They are very fast-paced, more fast-paced than I had anticipated. But they are very well organized and the Board members, of course, are all special people. It is interesting to see how they work and how they fit together.”

Though Odem has been secretary to the president since Jan. 1, her old position has not yet been filled. She has been balancing her time between her new duties and helping her old office, academic affairs.

“We have a lot of deadlines to fill, and I am helping with that,” Odem said. “I work there as much as I can to help with student enrollment. Also, we are getting ready for our HRT accreditation, and I’m working with the academic department helping with their syllabi.”

Odem said the most difficult part of the job is discovering everything that is needed of her. But she said that the former secretary, Nancy Messick, has been very helpful with the transition.

“She was highly organized,” Odem said. “She helps me by phone when I need it, and that has been a really big help.”

Messick has confidence in her successor.

“She’ll be really good,” Messick said. “She’ll work very hard in helping students.”