Claudine Crume, M.A.Ed., M.S., EdS
Claudine Crume, M.A.Ed., M.S., Ed.S., is a dedicated higher education professional serving as a Division Advisor and Success Coach at Amarillo College’s Moore County Campus in Dumas, Texas, where she also serves as the lead academic advisor and campus success coach. In this role, she supports students through academic planning, registration, transfer preparation, and ongoing success coaching. Her daily work is centered on direct student engagement—meeting with learners, responding to emails, and providing individualized support to help them navigate coursework challenges, stay on track academically, and achieve their educational goals. Claudine’s career in higher education spans approximately 13 years, during which she has built extensive experience in advising, teaching, and student support services. She began her journey in academia as an adjunct instructor after previously working in K–8 education with her first master’s degree in Elementary Education. Encouraged by a colleague who served as a college dean, she accepted an opportunity to teach as an adjunct and quickly discovered a strong passion for higher education. She found fulfillment in sharing her own academic journey with students and helping them navigate their paths through college, which led her to pursue a long-term career in student success and academic advising. Over the years, Claudine has expanded her academic credentials to include two master’s degrees and a post-graduate degree in Educational Leadership. Most recently, she earned a Master of Science in Psychology, driven by her desire to broaden her teaching scope beyond education-focused courses and better support students across disciplines. She remains committed to continuous learning, instructional growth, and student-centered practice. Outside of her professional responsibilities, she enjoys traveling, engaging in creative arts and crafts, cooking, snowboarding, motorcycle riding and spending quality time with family and friends.
• Certificate, Digital Photography
• Certificate, Social Media Marketing
• Critical Thinking (MSP)
• Certificate, AI (ChatGPT)
• Certificate, AI (Claude)
• Certificate, AI (Gemini)
• California State Polytechnic University-Pomona - BS, Psych
• University of Phoenix - MS, Psych
• University of Phoenix - EdS
• University of Phoenix - MAED
• NSLS
What do you attribute your success to?
I have a lot of drive to succeed at whatever I put my energy into. My mom worked hard to provide a good life for myself and my siblings, and that is a source of inspiration to me. She never went to college, but she worked her way up through hard work. My father valued education and encouraged me to go to college, and I found that I loved learning. I always want to expand my skills and continue to pursue education. They both contributed to my drive to work hard at everything.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was, basically, if I don't enjoy getting up in the morning to go to work, then I'm probably not doing the right thing. If you feel a sense of dread when you get up every morning, you're probably not in the right career. If you are passionate about what you do, you'll look forward to each new day.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell them to just be real with the people that you're going to be speaking with and use your own experiences to help them understand things better. A lot of times, I think the biggest challenge is being relatable to students, especially since I'm quite a bit older than the students now that are coming in and starting their college experience. If I can explain to them my experience with college, difficulties I had when I went to college; challenges and successes, all of that, because even though we're not of the same generation, there are still a lot of shared experiences that I've had that I know the students also have. I think it helps them open up to you, that helps them trust you, because they realize, okay, you do actually know what I'm going through. I would tell them to be authentic with the students and be yourself. If somebody were wanting to enter this field, especially after they've had some experience somewhere out in the workforce, I would tell them to be real with the people that you're going to be speaking with, draw on your own experiences, find a way to connect with each student, and you will find that you will become a mentor and a true source of support to students on their college journey.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Currently, the biggest challenge is figuring out my path to growth where I'm at, because it's hard to get into some areas in higher education. For me, for example, I want to be able to teach other subjects. I teach education classes right now, but I just got my most recent master's in psychology because I had my bachelor's in psychology and I never finished this field of study. I went into education after earning my bachelor's and later decided to pursue my master's in psychology because I wanted to be able to teach this subject. Getting opportunities to teach in higher education can be challenging because it is competitive. If someone were coming into higher education, opportunities don't always just fall in your lap, you have to work really hard to put yourself out there to try to grow.