Jacklyn (Hockenberry) Callihan
Jacklyn (Hockenberry) Callihan ’17M is the Assistant Director of Admissions at Washington State Community College in Marietta, Ohio. During admission appointments, she works with traditional and nontraditional students to help them through the enrollment process and provide them with the information they will need to be successful. She also travels to several different high schools in Ohio and West Virginia to talk to students about programs Washington State offers and the college experience on their campus.
Callihan sees her campus as very community oriented and focused on student success, and that is why she loves her job. She is able to help students from various backgrounds within her community achieve their goal of gaining a college education. She also works with an amazing team of people within her department that make going to work every day a blast.
“With my job, there is never a boring day, and it is a guarantee that every day is different from the last!” Callihan says.
She earning an M.A. in Sociology from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University, she immediately started her new job.
Her OHIO Experience
Callihan credits her background with an Appalachian home and the opportunity to focus on Appalachian studies during her time at OHIO as helping her a lot with her current position.
While working on her master’s thesis, she was able to learn more about Appalachian culture and the barriers students may face while trying to obtain a higher education. Having this knowledge allows her to better understand and relate to the students she works with every day.
Also, taking the Teaching Sociology course and leading her own course during her graduate program were very beneficial to the recruitment aspect of her job. Preparing for and actually teaching a course greatly improved her confidence with public speaking.
“Being on the other side of the classroom was a wonderful experience,” Callihan explains. “Teaching a course taught me how important it is for professors and students to reach out to one another, communicate regularly, and develop a good rapport. In my position now, this still holds true.”
Although she is not on the teaching side anymore, she still feels strongly the importance of developing a good rapport with the students she works with, and she encourages them to reach out for help throughout their academic career and develop a good working relationship with their professors.
“Overall, my time at OHIO prepared me well for my current position,” she says.
“I am very thankful for all of the opportunities that were available to me and the experience I was able to gain while completing my M.A.”
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