Kelly Karki

I attribute my success to resilience and determination - those are absolutely key. I've always had this feeling that I'm capable of more, and I never let that go. My motto is you do what you can with what you have, and you just keep your eye on the prize. I went back to school when I was 30 because I knew I wanted more, and now at 50, I'm finally starting law school. I also believe that having a strong female network is so important - I have a good group of friends, and one is going back for her PhD after already having her JD, and another just finished her EdD in her early 50s. I'm a sponge when it comes to learning. I think it's so important that you never stop learning, because if you stop learning, you stagnate. Being adaptable and flexible to new things that come along is essential - you have to be willing to grow.

The best career advice I ever received came from a boss I had when I was 18. A customer came in with a complaint because one of our people had done a lousy job, and instead of just trying to fix it our way, my boss asked the customer, 'What do you think is fair? What would you want? What is your outcome? What do you think is fair?' I always think of that and try to look at things from the opposite side - what would the other person want? What do I think is fair? This advice has helped me tremendously in my position. When I'm drafting a document or trying to make something easier for our students, whether it's on our catalog or marketing site, I try to look at it through the lens of a student. I know what I want to convey, but I ask myself, does this make sense to a student? I attend the meetings, I have the regulation in my head, but if I had none of this knowledge and I look at it, does it just make sense to me? That advice from 30 years ago is still very fresh in my mind, and I use it in so many situations.

One, be tenacious. Two, ask questions. There's so much, and so many little, tiny nuances in this field, and it's a very niche area, so you have to ask questions. And three, relationships are key. It's so important to grow your network. In online or distance education, I deal with people in all 50 states and the territories, and you need to be able to send an email where people know who you are. Attend your meetings, follow up with your people, and make good connections. Relationships are everything in this field.

The biggest challenges right now are that there's not enough people in this role - most of us are one-woman shows. Budgetary restraints in higher education is a big topic right now. Post-secondary education institutions are all cutting their budgets, so we have limited people. You're forced to be very proficient because you're the only one doing it. Another challenge I've noticed, and a colleague of mine mentioned this too, is that as a woman, you can have the same thought, same recommendations, same logic, but as soon as you have those credentials and letters after your name, people look and listen differently. I don't know if it's a sexist thing - I kinda tend to think so, but I could be wrong.

Communication is definitely at the top of my list. The ability to see things from the other side is crucial - to negotiate or compromise, because sometimes you're not going to get everything your way. You have to give and take, and you have to be able to communicate effectively. I think you have to be open and willing to learn. Some people, especially now with things like AI, say 'I'm not gonna pay attention, this is how I've done it, I don't know what that is, this is what I'm doing.' But no, you need to learn this, you should want to learn this because it will make things easier for you. The ability to be adaptable and flexible to new things that come along is essential - you have to be, or you're gonna stagnate. If you don't grow, you stagnate in life.