Meet...Beth Fisher

These days it’s hard to find a family that has a long tradition of working for one business or institution. In the past children often followed in their parents’ footsteps, but the world has changed, and many career-oriented young people move on to different workplaces. Now only very special places facilitate this kind of family tradition, and for one of the newest McMicken college employees, UC is that type of place.

Beth Fisher, now a full-time senior academic advisor, is the fourth generation in her family to be employed by the university. Her great-grandfather started the trend as the head of the payroll department for the university and passed it to her grandfather, who worked as a fiscal officer in the College of Education. Next in line was her mother, Joan Fisher, who is an executive staff assistant in the associate dean’s office. Her father and three sisters have also worked at the university as well.

Fisher’s UC career history began in the summer of 1999. As a freshman industrial design major, she worked her first summer in the registrar’s office. She moved the next summer to McMicken’s advising office, where her mother was also working. In spring of 2003, Fischer moved to the Center for Exploratory studies as the Alumni Shadowing coordinator. She quickly came to respect the work the center does. “I wish I could have utilized their services earlier…Maybe I wouldn’t have spent so much time jumping around majors,” she theorizes.

She switched her major often among very different fields. In DAAP, she sampled industrial design and art history; and in A&S she considered majors in communication, French, anthropology, history, and English. “I even considered the College of Education before I settled on urban studies in DAAP,” she recalls.

While working in the Center for Exploratory Studies and about to begin her fourth year of college still “undecided,” Fisher finally realized that urban studies program “was a perfect fit” because as a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, she loves the urban environment and enjoys telling people about its opportunities.

As graduation approached, she took a temporary position as an advisor in the fall of 2004. When she began graduate school in spring 2005, she was offered an assistantship as a graduate advisor. When a full time position for senior academic advisor became available, she was interviewed and offered the job.

Fischer will pursue a Master’s degree in labor and employment relations part-time while relying on her own experiences to advise students: “What I can say about my degree work, undergrad and grad, is that my liberal arts background really helps me to work with the students I see every day. Although none of my degree work is in educational services or administration, I love being in higher education and hope to stay in this type of setting for the rest of my career.”

Story by Holly Holmes, A&S Journalism Intern