After a long career devoted to education in the Westby School District, Tammy Gilkes was ready for a change. She was dean of students at Westby High School, with years of teaching high school English (college writing and speech), but when the school year ended in spring 2022 she retired from the Westby schools and jumped at the chance to come to Viterbo University as an administrative assistant in student life.
For Gilkes, Viterbo felt a little like home even before she thought about working here. She had paid many visits to campus over the years because of her daughter’s participation in La Crosse Girlchoir and club volleyball.
“This place is so gorgeous. I just knew I could work on this campus every day,” Gilkes said. “Also, the core values fit the values I’ve lived by.”
When she first started working at Viterbo, Gilkes recalled she’d be talking with students and a co-worker or supervisor would walk in and she’d feel like she had to stop chatting and “get back to work.” She was quickly reassured that she was doing just what she should be doing.
“Talking to students was actually part of the job, but it doesn’t feel like work,” Gilkes said.
In her new position as first- and second-year experience coordinator in Viterbo’s student life division, talking (and listening) to students is a huge part of her job. In a nutshell, Gilkes is on a mission to ensure that Viterbo students get the most out of their first two years of college, not only to ensure academic success, but also to make sure students have a robust college experience, “filling their buckets,” as they say.
Those buckets might involve artistic fulfillment, recreational opportunities, socializing, sports, or myriad other pursuits. The university not only needs to provide these bucket-filling opportunities, it also needs to make sure that students know about them. Communication about the multitude of campus happenings can be a challenge, but Gilkes has ideas on how to find “the sweet spot” for connecting students.
“Students are the lifeblood of this university. Just helping them thrive is an important part of my job,” she said. “Sometimes it could be the smallest thing. It doesn’t always have to be this major thing. It boils down to making them feel glad they’re here.”
The work she will do in this newly created position has been a part of other people’s jobs, but consolidating those duties in one position is an indication of the increased priority Viterbo places on getting students off to a good start.
For incoming first-year students, the first part of that good start is STAR (Student Transition and Registration) week, which this year took place June 19–23. This was Gilkes first experience with STAR Week, and she was impressed and energized by it.
“The admissions team does an incredible job preparing for an amazing five days of meeting with future V-Hawks and their families,” Gilkes said. “I really like that so many members of our Viterbo team can share with the future students and their families all of the ways we are able to guide and help these students soar while they are at Viterbo.”
The highlight of every day for Gilkes was the hour set aside for students to get to know other incoming students. “I appreciate that we could normalize some of the feelings that students are facing as they are leaving home for college,” she said. “The energy of the students is so infectious, and I am so ready to have them return and begin their journey with us here at Viterbo.”
Since coming to work at Viterbo, Gilkes has begun working on her second master’s degree, this one in servant leadership. Those studies already have shaped her approach to her new position.
“One of the things I have learned in my servant leadership classes is I have to focus intently on making good, ethical decisions when deciding what’s best for our students,” Gilkes said.
Another lesson involves the importance of ritual to nurture relationships and a feeling of unity. “Rituals make people feel like they are home,” Gilkes said. “When they participate, students will feel like this is their home away from home.”
