The Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University – Commerce welcomes hundreds of new students each year, many of them international, and supports programs for both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Vicki Heath Anderson, administrative secretary, has been with the department about 12-and-a-half years and is responsible for the organization of some of the department’s most crucial functions.
“I greet visitors, students, supervise graduate assistants for the lab, assist and help faculty members, do payroll, and just general office management,” said Anderson. “My job is never done.”
When registration for a semester rolls around, Anderson said she is often swamped with student “problems” and difficult questions all at the same time.
“Sometimes they come at the last minute, wanting me to do something right then and there,” said Anderson. “But I have to be professional and just let them know it’s not going to work that way.”
She said she has learned some “tricks” to make registration easier and quicker for the students.
“I create my own form, and we usually do early registration because I know it’s going to be crazy,” Anderson said. “We just stick the forms on the table, and they come in, fill out the registration form, and I take them up. After looking at them, if I have a question about them, I give it to the advisers and they look it over and say, ‘It’s okay, you can permit them.'”
Despite the processes she has organized, Anderson said that registration still has problems that have to be worked out.
“At one time I was permitting every single student, everything was department approved,” Anderson said. “So, I had to permit every single international student into classes. It can be hectic from time to time.”
A large majority of the computer science graduate students within the department are from other nations, making it one of the most internationally diverse programs.
“It’s very different from some other departments on campus because there’s one me and probably close to 300 of the international students,” Anderson said. “Their customs are very different.”
According to Anderson, the department’s many international students may need assistance because of the cultural differences.
“The international students are not from here, so they’re not used to the way we do things around here,” said Anderson. “They can be persistent when it comes to registration issues.”
Anderson said the best thing about her job is getting to meet different people each day.
“I’m a people person,” Anderson said. “I like dealing with people, just talking to people, and getting to know about them. You learn a lot.”
She said if she could be doing anything else, it would be volunteer work in Greenville, where she resides with her husband, Robert. Anderson has one daughter, two step-children, and two granddaughters.
“It would be a choice,” Anderson said. “If I didn’t have to work but wanted to work, I would just love to do volunteer work without actually having an eight-to-five job.”