Featured Falcons: Randi Tubbs

What is your name and current title with the University of Montevallo?
My name is Randi Tubbs, and I’m the director of the Falcon Success Center.

Where are you from and what city do you currently reside in?
I currently reside in Bessemer and have lived in different parts of Bessemer so long I consider it to be where I am from.

If you hold any degrees, what are they in and from what schools?
I earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2004 and a Master of Arts in English in 2006, both from the University of Montevallo.

How long have you worked here? 
I’ve been in my position as a director since the summer of 2011, but I started working at UM in 2006 as an adjunct instructor.

Did you hold any previous positions here? If so, what are they?
Prior to graduating, while working towards my Master of Arts in English, I was a writing consultant at the Harbert Writing Center. Upon graduating, I was an adjunct English instructor until 2011. During that time, I worked with Upward Bound as an English Instructor and with the McNair Scholars Program as a test preparation instructor, leading workshops for the verbal sections of graduate school entrance exams, such as the GRE, MAT, etc.

What brought you to Montevallo, and what keeps you here?
I first visited Montevallo as a student in high school for a writing camp and fell in love with the campus — its beauty and its smallness, it was special — a hidden gem that deserves to be uncovered! I applied and, thankfully, was accepted. What keeps me here is the magic I felt when I first stepped on campus as a student, the kindness of the faculty and staff who truly cares about students and the experience they have on campus. I also enjoy working with students, connecting them to helpful campus resources and building their confidence as they navigate their college experience.

Why is a liberal arts education important in today’s world?
Employers are looking for employees who are well-rounded and prepared to take on any issue or task that is in front of them. Having a liberal arts education means you can critically think about and fully analyze situations. You can communicate effectively, and you not only have the ability to find a problem that needs to be repaired but can problem solve and find out-of-the-box solutions to the problem at hand.

How does working at a liberal arts institution shape how you approach your role?
I take a holistic and student-centered approach in everything I do in my role at the Falcon Success Center. Before making any decisions, I think about how a change may affect our students’ experience as I want them to feel as I did while working towards my degree at UM — having a sense of belonging and purpose.

What’s something about your role or your department that people might not know, but should?
The Falcon Success Center’s overall goal is to help students succeed by providing them with support that will strengthen their academic skills, helping them become more confident students as they work towards achieving academic and personal success at UM and beyond. Keeping this in mind, we want students to feel welcome to utilize our services and want faculty and staff to send students our way for academic consultations, success coaching, tutoring and overall support.

Do you have any interesting stories about one of your favorite experiences here?
That’s a tough one! My favorite experiences here revolve around all the students I’ve worked with in one way or another — as student employees, advisees or students I met with to see how I may be able to help them. I’ve also had interesting stories from working with my colleagues across campus — but there are too many to name!

What’s your proudest accomplishment since being at UM?
As a first-generation student, graduating with both an undergraduate and graduate degree ranks as one of my top accomplishments. Overall, though, I feel most rewarded when a student stops by to update me on how they are doing or to thank me for helping them when they needed it — knowing I made a difference in some way always makes me feel a sense of accomplishment. Recently, this sense of accomplishment became tangible with me being chosen as this year’s recipient of the Senior Elite Night dedication. This was such an honor and a night I will never forget!

Are you currently working on or have you recently completed any interesting projects?
Last semester, I partnered with Dr. Charlotte Ford, director of Carmichael Library, and Amanda Fowler, who was the grant writer at UM at the time, on writing a grant proposal and being selected to receive a grant from EBSCO Industries for the renovation of the lower level of the library — creating a space for the Falcon Success Center so that we could move from our previous location and be more central to campus. This was a team project as so many people have helped in different ways — from the support of UM’s administrative team, to designing input from faculty and staff, to the hard work of the Physical Plant team who did everything from building walls to painting them, to wiring and lighting and ensuring the work ran efficiently and smoothly. This project wouldn’t have been possible without them and everyone else who shared the vision of having a one-stop location where we can provide holistic support by connecting students to helpful campus resources and by providing academic success coaching, tutoring and more!

Complete this phrase: Montevallo Means More…
Support. I know this is said all the time, but it’s so true — at UM, students are more than a number. Faculty and staff know students by name; they want to see students succeed and help them do so by providing support every chance they can and in any way they can.

How does your role contribute to the “more” students get at Montevallo?
Students will get more from their classes by utilizing the services at the Falcon Success Center and receiving support, encouragement and ways to build their skills as they work towards their degree.

Anything else you want to say?
I’m so appreciative of being able to work with UM’s students, staff and faculty everyday — there is nowhere else I want to be!