Megan Ohlmann
Director
"Do more of what makes you happy."
In Student Engagement, my goal is to help students be successful - academically, personally, and as emerging professionals. This means using my "developer" strengths to help our Student Engagement team feel supported and ensuring everyone has what they need to do their best and most fulfilling work. When we are working together as a team, we are more able to have a real impact on student success.
I graduated with a degree in sociology from Wheaton College (IL) and got my master's in Higher Education from TTU. I started at Texas Tech as an academic advisor, and this gave me a great foundation to move into student success. I feel like I have a good "big picture" view of the student experience and rely on things I learned as an advisor almost daily in my job.
When I'm not working, my family can be found outside almost every evening after work. I have two very active boys and a little girl who is anxious to keep up with them, so we're usually swinging, collecting rocks, riding bikes, or just generally burning off energy. In my pre-kids life, I was an avid runner and I hope to return to that lifestyle someday soon!
Ask me about:
The coolest thing I'm working on right now.
I am excited about building our Student Success team. With our engagement programs we have built a strong foundation of working collaboratively with other departments on campus, and I am looking forward to continuing that in a new way. We are moving forward into a new chapter in our department, and I am so excited to continue learning, growing, and having a positive impact on students at Texas Tech.
What advice I would give a candidate who wants to join our team of superstars.
Be ready to move forward! We're a very growth-minded department, and people who look for the easiest way to do things or who are content to just do things the same way we've done them year after year will struggle. You have to be willing to investing in growing yourself, your programs, and your knowledge - being stagnant doesn't get you anywhere!
The best piece of advice I've ever been given.
That gratitude is at the heart of contentment. If you can find things to be thankful about instead of focusing on what you don't have, you will find yourself truly joyful and content.
My favorite TTU story.
In 2017, I was assigned to attend the Houston Roadshow recruiting event. I was hoping to redeem my trip from the year before where I was stranded in the Galleria for three days (which sounds fun until you realize all the stores are closed and flooded). Well this next trip did not redeem, and it was in fact a disaster from start to finish. To make a long story short, we had to fly to Dallas and then drive to Houston due to torrential rains. Not accounting for my unexpected rental car, I had booked an early flight out of Houston on the word of an unnamed colleague who insisted that I would have plenty of time to get to the airport and would "even have time to enjoy Pappadeaux's". Well between the Houston flooding, the slowest security line known to man, and a lost rental car in a parking garage designed by M.C. Escher himself, I barely made my flight...much less ate fancy seafood. But it's cool...I'm not bitter.
Stats
Years in Higher Ed13
Years at TTU13
Years in Student Engagement10
Skills
Making CoffeeAvenger
My Avenger is the Hulk. While it is true that once a colleague and I intentionally chose all the lamest answers on the Zimbio quiz, only to find to my horror that the output was the Hulk, I would argue that the Hulk is not the lamest of the characters. In fact, he is fiercely loyal and can only be found getting truly riled up when the people he loves are threatened. As a person who surrounds themselves with a small group of people whom I care about deeply, I can completely identify with him.
Student Engagement
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Address
Drane Hall 1st Floor, Box 45020, Lubbock, TX 79409 -
Phone
806.742.5928 -
Email
studentengagement@ttu.edu