Admin of the Month: Julie Schwab

Our Admin of the Month for October 2023 is Julie Schwab, Sr. Executive Assistant to the Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. 

Julie was nominated by colleague Tiffany Terry:  

“I'd like to nominate Julie Schwab for Admin of the Month. As the Assistant to the Provost and basically the ‘top of the food chain’ for most of the admins here, Julie is rad and is always doing cool stuff to make us feel appreciated. She also works hard to bring quality training and teambuilding to us.” 

I started out in the administrative field with my first role “Clerk Typist I." Twenty years later, I am still in the administrative field and loving every minute.  

The changes are daily in the world of an assistant. There are a lot of things I still do today that I did 20 years ago – but either on a grander scale, with newer technology and experience. But, bottom line, my job is still to make operations run smoothly, oversee day-to-day activities, and make sure my boss has what he needs to be successful in his job!  

The constant change. You can’t get bored in a position like ours. I like knowing that what I do (99% of the time is behind the scenes) makes a difference in the overall mission of our office and ultimately the institution.  

I love having the platform to advocate for the administrative professionals in our division. If I can help someone make their job easier or give them the tools to accomplish their duties, then I feel that I have succeeded. I base my success on helping others succeed.  

I attended my first APC in Dallas, Texas many years ago and was blown away with the caliber of speakers and content! It was refreshing to know that there is a platform out there that supports administrative professionals!  

Since that first conference I have taken advantage of the webinars and articles and attended the conferences when able! My new favorite of ASAP is their Career Corner – if you haven’t checked it out – DO IT, you will not be disappointed!  

Be yourself – don’t ever try to fill someone else’s shoes!!! When I first started in my current position, I was following someone who had been in the role for 20+ years; everyone said, “You have some big shoes to fill." So, I started second guessing myself, not believing my worth, and having imposter syndrome. No one should feel like that – so I changed my mindset to believe that I would never fill her shoes, because everyone is their own person and handles things their own way. So, just be YOU!!!!  

Since then, my personal motto hasn’t let me down!  “Don’t fill someone else’s shoes - Go buy your own and rock it!!!!” 

More about Julie:

Julie has served and continues to serve on various committees on campus. She obtained her certification as a Master Mentor for other administrative professionals on campus and is a first-generation mentor to first-gen students at SHSU. In her current role, she developed a series of “Staff Chats” to bridge the gap of communication between departments and other divisions on campus. The platform of these sessions also highlights the “why" or purpose of administrative professionals in Academic Affairs.