Student success, focus of MC’s new VP of Student ServicesMarch 20, 2018

“In December 2015, the magic began to happen,” said Liz Zenteno, Midland College (MC) dean of Enrollment Management.  “That’s when Julia Vickery accepted the position as director of Pathways Advising.

“I remember thinking that she had a formidable task ahead of her.  At that time, many of our students were taking classes that did not even correspond to the major that the college had on their record.”

“My goal was to focus on how we could change our advising system in order to achieve better student retention and help students focus on a pathway to reach their educational goal,” explained Vickery.  “We had many students who were taking unnecessary classes and excessive hours because they didn’t have a degree or transfer plan.”

Julia Vickery completely revamped MC’s advising system in order to ensure that students complete educational goals by taking the right classes for their chosen major and pathway.  With a new focus of keeping each student on his/her designated pathway, the college increased the number of completions over a one-year period by 16 percent.  A year later, the college saw another gain of 18 percent over the previous year’s increase.

Zenteno explained that Julia Vickery’s approach to achieving these significant accomplishments has consisted of a combination of developing ongoing staff development, securing funding to contract with a third-party student success consulting firm and implementing software that serves as a data “warehouse” enabling advisors to build ad hoc reports in order to monitor students’ progress.

Vickery has also been instrumental in helping personnel in MC’s instructional programs devise curriculum maps, and she has helped to develop content for the college’s new website.

“I believe that in order to truly improve the success rate of our students, we must focus on a holistic, student-centered strategy across all dimensions of the student experience—not just the student advising aspect,” said Vickery.  “I am so very fortunate to work with a great team of colleagues at Midland College who shared this philosophy.  Personnel in all areas of the college—instructional, support services and campus operations—came together to focus on helping students with a ‘pathway to success.’”

This past December, MC President Dr. Steve Thomas promoted Vickery to vice president of Student Services.  Vickery now oversees all aspects of student recruitment, enrollment, financial aid, advising, counseling, student records and student life. 

“Julia is the perfect fit for the job of vice president of Student Services,” said Dr. Deana Savage, MC special advisor to the president.  “She has a comprehensive understanding of the student experience at MC.  She is decisive and has a keen intelligence, great communication skills and a great heart.”

The term “heart” is used quite often when people describe Julia Vickery.

“She has a heart for students,” said Suzanne Thomas, Abell-Hanger Foundation grants coordinator, in a January 2016 Midland Reporter Telegram article about Vickery’s involvement with the Students in Philanthropy program,

As a young child, Vickery lived on a cotton farm just north of Stanton.  She wanted to be a doctor and performed make-believe surgery on dolls and other toys, including her green John Deere toy tractor.   

After graduating Midland Lee High School, Vickery studied pre-med at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa.  However, the woman with the “great heart” knew that she couldn’t handle the inevitable loss of a patient as a doctor, so she shifted her major to general studies focusing on science, communications and business.  Eventually she followed her husband Eric to the University of Kansas where she earned a Master’s degree in microbiology. 

Julia and Eric Vickery have been married for 22 years.  They have two children—a son Benton, age 13, and a daughter Railey, age 9. Throughout the years, family nights for the Vickerys have included MC basketball games and other college activities, including the annual Holiday Evening.

Julia Vickery began working at MC in 1997, before her children were born.  She has served in numerous capacities associated with her passion—helping students develop and achieve their personal and educational goals.  Among her many responsibilities has been the administration of residential housing and related services, student activities and Midland’s Legacy Scholarship program.  Her former job titles have included MC Testing Center coordinator, Student Life director, Student Development and Students in Philanthropy coordinator and occasional adjunct Biology professor.

Vickery has maintained her commitment to serving students and not only helping them on their educational journey, but also assisting and counseling students to overcome personal obstacles.

“It was people like Julia Vickery who gave me the strength I needed to stay in school,” said MC Alumna Irma Bueno, whose father was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness during the time she attended Midland College.

In February 2018, the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) presented Vickery with the Excellence in Advising - Administrator Award.

“I’ve been fortunate in my professional career to work with a number of highly intelligent, creative and dedicated leaders; however, Julia stands out for her investment in the ongoing training of her team of pathways advisors, her insistence on developing and consistently implementing a set of advising practices and procedures that took full advantage of the technologies available and her willingness to partner closely with the college’s academic divisions to ensure student success,” said Zenteno.

“Julia’s desire to serve students is a trait that is easily seen in everything she does and asks us to do,” said Dawn Finley, one of MC’s Pathways advisors.  “We are trained to go beyond course enrollment to coach students for success all along their chosen pathway.  Simply stated, Julia Vickery is student focused.”