The MS in Higher Education Administration and Policy program (MSHE) is proud of the track record of placing 90 percent of graduates in jobs within 90 days of graduation. One example of this success is graduate Anne Pugh. After finishing the MSHE program, Pugh quickly began her new full-time role as an academic adviser for first-year students in the College of Natural Arts and Sciences at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. In this position, Pugh has been helping new students identify the courses they need to take for their degrees, while also teaching them how to prioritize when putting together their schedules and directing them to resources.

As a student in the MSHE program, Pugh engaged in a variety of practical experiences including internships as a career counselor, college adviser for high school students, and coordinator of student involvement resources. In addition to her coursework, these opportunities supported Pugh’s development of the she uses the most in her work today: resourcefulness. Pugh explained, “The MSHE program has given me great groundwork in understanding how higher education institutions work so that when I meet with students, I can be quickly resourceful; because I understand how a multitude of offices work across institutions, and I understand how they--as students and adults--have developed and continue to develop.”

Within the next year, Pugh plans to continue observing, learning, and improving in her new position. She also hopes to conduct more research because of the positive experience she had with the MSHE Master’s Project. Pugh shared, “Not many people I have met who have a master’s in higher education outside of Northwestern can say they’ve gotten to do this level or intensity of their own research, and it definitely gave me a thirst for more structured data collection and results.”