UALR grads connect at UAMS, find success working in higher ed

June 16-22, 2014

By Becca Bona

For UAMS Campus Life and Student Services team Cheri Goforth and Nakia Dedner, working in higher education was not necessarily always the beacon at the end of the tunnel.

“We both have very different stories,” laughed Goforth, Director of Campus Life and Student Services. Dedner stumbled upon the position after working in a different department at UAMS, and it turns out that Dedner, now Assistant Director for Campus Life and Student Support Services, was Goforth’s first hire.

“I wasn’t quite sure if I had all of the things necessary to handle the title but applied, got a call, and went in for an interview with Cheri and ended up being hired,” said Dedner. The two did not realize that they had, among other things, UALR in common, as well as a passion for working with people in education.

Goforth, a native of Little Rock, went to Hall High School before attending UALR. She put her schooling on hold to raise a family, but all the while, education remained a passion for her. 

She went back to UALR and received her bachelor’s in education, her first step toward becoming a teacher. “I taught school for 10 years … at Brady Elementary and I also taught at Washington,” she explained. 

When her second husband passed, she reevaluated her career, thinking it was time for a change. “That was the turning point where I thought, what do I want to do. and that’s when I went back to graduate school,” she said.

Once receiving her master’s in Interpersonal and Organizational Communications, she got a job with UAMS, and two years later, was hired as housing director. She has been in her current post for ten years and can’t complain. “Who knew this would be my dream job?” she asked, smiling. 

Dedner, also a strong woman focused on education, found that her path was full of unexpected turns, like Goforth’s. 

Dedner attended Parkview Arts School before heading to UALR. She truly was passionate about dance in her high school days, as well as a certain high school sweetheart that would become her husband. “I got married young to my high school sweetheart … it’s funny when people see us and they say, ‘Oh my goodness they’re still together.’”

Dedner graduated UALR with a focus in liberal arts, and she began to work on raising a family, while she and her husband both worked on campus. She discovered that balancing her children, relationship, work and school was not an easy task. 

Dedner was determined to garner more education for herself and continue to climb the ladder. “Back then I was trying to move up because I had a goal. I wanted to be a millionaire and I wanted to be that go-to person.”

After she worked in various departments across the UALR campus, she managed to transfer over to the UAMS campus, and eventually met Goforth. 

Goforth remembers the interview with Dedner: “I had just received my masters and she had not received her masters at that point, but we had a lot of chemistry. I didn’t have exact experience in my job and she didn’t have exact experience in her job, so we learned together. And she is my right hand and my left hand, and even both sometimes.”

On learning together, the two bonded over their UALR experience. Goforth said both enjoyed their UALR experience, especially the “flexibility … and mentors.” Dedner echoed Goforth, “I met people like me, who have families and are non-traditional students, because I didn’t quite mesh into the traditional lifestyle.”

Dedner went back and got a masters from Webster University in 2006, after she was already working with Goforth.

The tasks that the two tackle on a daily basis have truly changed over the past decade. For instance the construction of new dorms have caused them to expand their services. 

“We have broadened our client based by not only serving our students, but we also serve faculty and staff who come here internationally and from out of state. .... We expanded our housing base and we are also campus life,” said Goforth. 

This means that they are responsible for doing “a little bit of everything” when it comes to the students. 

Goforth loves tackling new challenges, including learning the new information system called GUS that UAMS has taken on recently. “My dream job is that no two days are ever the same, I have a wide variety of responsibilities. I love working with people and students,” she detailed. 

Dedner agrees that she has found a niche in the professional world, and it has a lot to do with working with Goforth. “I have grown a whole bunch and that was a goal for me. I went to Cheri for her leadership and insight and watched how she handled things and how she networks with faculty and staff here. You learn the dos and the don’ts on how to build relationships … I am a connector,” she explained.

The two solidly agree that the best advice for young professionals is to take a little bit of a risk and be open to opportunities. Goforth said, it’s important to “take opportunities when they arrive because some opportunities only come once.” Dedner echoed this sentiment: “When you take these opportunities you learn as you go. And it is not a bad thing to make a mistake.”

When not working Dedner works on her business, which she claims she unexpectedly founded in 2011. “I decided that I no longer wanted to chemically relax my hair and wanted to grow it out, but I couldn’t really find a product. So I made a product line,” she explained. When she gets home from work, she has the energy to work on her product line, Nakia Amour Natural Hair Care, and she also loves spending time with her family.

Goforth, who recently moved downtown, loves exercising along the bridges and river trails. She said, “I try to stay active, but the biggest thing I enjoy doing is being with my kids. I have a grandson now and enjoy spending time with him.”

The two couldn’t agree more that Little Rock has recently grown into, “a community,” and they themselves are proof.