Every month, the Administrative/Professional (A/P) Council highlights an A/P staff member through a series of questions as another way for the Illinois State University community to connect. This month, readers get to know Associate Dean of Students Jill Benson.
Job title/position: Associate Dean of Students
Job duties: Most people know me from my coordination of the Dean on Duty, Parent and Family Services, and Student Navigator programs, or my oversight of commencement, but after having supervised or worked in nearly every function of the Dean of Students Office over the years, I do a little bit of everything. My duties are wonderfully varied, including supervising several office functions, advising the student organization fee board, reviewing performance contracts, administering scholarships, coordinating assessment and planning projects, and leading staff training and meetings.
How long have you been an employee at ISU?: 30 years!
What do you love most about working at ISU?: My colleagues. I consider myself very lucky to work among creative, kind, smart, student-focused, and solution-finding colleagues who also have fun at work. I love working in an environment where we do important work but don’t take ourselves too seriously.
What is one fact about yourself that might surprise people?: My husband and I have three adult kids whose career paths I have started describing like a setup to a joke: A preacher, a teacher, and a politician. One is an ELCA pastor in the Los Angeles area, one is a sixth-grade teacher in Wisconsin, and one is a college student in Des Moines who is still determining how he’ll apply his political interests to a career.
When you’re not working, what are you most likely doing?: Enjoying and tending a recently acquired 100-year-old cottage and the bayfront property it sits on in Wisconsin, the site of which will become a future retirement home.
What is your favorite spot on campus?: The Quad. I love the trees and that it is a crossroads of sorts for the campus, but the Quad also symbolizes the relational spirit of ISU for me. When I look at the Quad, I reminisce about the 30 years of student programming I’ve been involved in—and the complexities of outdoor programming—and think of all the behind-the-scenes folks who bring a collaborative and student-centered approach to work every day.
What quote most inspires you? Why?: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘the present’.”—Eleanor Roosevelt. This describes my time and action orientation more than it inspires, I guess. I can plan ahead, and I can reflect, but I am drawn to making the most out of what is happening now, in the present.
