Carolina People: Jen Drake
“If I can do anything to help simplify, streamline or remove barriers to help students achieve their dreams … I’m here for that.”
Jen Drake
student administrative business analyst
22 years at Carolina
Describe a typical day in your job.
The thing that I love about my job is there is no such thing as a typical day.
I think I have the best job on Carolina’s campus. I sit between several offices, and my role is to find opportunities to leverage technology to promote student success and administrative efficiency. I spend many days analyzing student and administrative staff needs, researching current and potential solutions or testing, developing and communicating solutions.
How does your job support Carolina’s mission?
I believe that my role strongly supports the strategic plan pillar Strengthen Student Success.
My role was created about eight years ago. I came from 13 years of working at ITS, and this new student administrative business analyst team was created to help provide analytical and project management resources to design, develop and launch student-friendly technology solutions.
What accomplishment or moment in your work at Carolina are you proudest of?
The most recent launch of the study abroad credit redesign project. I worked with a team from the registrar’s office and study abroad and scholarships and student aid, and we basically redesigned the way that credit is handled for students who study abroad.
Rather than use a transfer equivalency credit, which was very generic and didn’t show the credit that students took abroad, we are now adopting a practice where we articulate it as UNC credit. So if the abroad course is equivalent to Spanish 200, we’ll articulate Spanish 200. That not only makes it easier for departments to review the course abroad and make sure that every student that takes that course gets that same credit from an equity perspective, but it also saves it in a database that didn’t exist previously, so they don’t have to review all eight students who took that class.
But most importantly, from a student’s perspective, it carries the related general education tags and equivalencies when a UNC equivalent course is granted. Or if it’s a departmental elective that’s awarded instead, it’s a simple Tar Heel Tracker adjustment that can be made to more transparently and clearly help students see how they’re meeting their degree requirements through their study abroad courses.
What inspires or motivates you every day?
If I can do anything to help simplify, streamline or remove barriers to help students achieve their dreams, get through their college experience, learn and then go on and do amazing research or work or contribute to the community, I’m here for that.
Each time I launch a project, I’m always curious about how it helps students. I think, “Yeah, if I were a student, I think this would be a good improvement.” That’s what helps me come back to work each day.
For example, I recently worked with the registrar and advising offices to update our pass-fail request form in ConnectCarolina for students because the COVID guidelines were no longer in place for grading, and the pass-fail process reverted back to the original policy. And the thought of asking students to not only meet with an academic adviser, but maybe complete a paper form — I couldn’t do it. So I was grateful to the University registrar and the dean of academic advising who created a space for this project to happen. Within three weeks we had it developed and tested, created a launch plan and a communication plan, and it went live in September. We’ve had a few of those trickle in.
It’s an example of how I hope our technologies will continue to evolve, where students can access information and tools they need at all times of the day or night, irrespective of whether a support person or a campus colleague is there to help, that there are some guardrails and supports available for when there are questions. It’s those kinds of projects that reinvigorate me for my future work.
When you’re not working, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I took up a pandemic hobby of sewing. I started by making face masks because when all the COVID stories were coming out and the news flashes and the headlines were constantly bombarding me, it felt like a really concrete way to deal with that uncertainty. I found the joy in putting together fabrics of different colors and patterns and such. I made face masks for all my family and some of my friends and some of my work colleagues. I probably made 50 to 100 masks.
And then I was like, “OK, I can’t make any more masks, I’ve got to do something else,” so I moved on to sewing a business casual wardrobe of pajama pants and shorts. That took me through the summer, fall and winter months. I made too many pajama pants at that point — I made them in fleece; I made them in flannel; I made them in cotton; I made them all different lengths — and I was like, “OK, I’m done.”
I’ve now transitioned to business clothes like dresses and blouses, so I’m expanding. I have a quilt that’s in process as well. It’s a nice break from staring at the computer screen all day.
I also enjoy knitting and traveling with my husband in our mountain biking adventure van. We built it out for our 20th anniversary a couple of years ago, just before COVID hit. That fall before, we took it on our maiden voyage, and then each year since have taken a week’s vacation in the van.
