When a boss offers advice, an employee may take it with a grain of salt.
But for Newman University graduate Tiffany Webster ‘23, she took her boss’s words to heart when encouraged to earn her master’s degree.
“As soon as I started working as a Newman employee, Jessica Bird (dean of the School of Education and Social Work) told me, ‘you need to get your master’s,’” Webster said. “So a couple years ago I graduated with my bachelor’s and now my master’s. So (graduation day) feels like a full circle moment.”
Webster, who earned her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a concentration in diversity, works as the outreach student success coordinator in western Kansas. She finished her studies in December 2023 but jumped at the chance to walk across the stage at the spring graduation ceremony May 10.
“After all this time taking classes as a nontraditional student and juggling a job and a family, it was so much,” she said. “Walking the stage puts that finality to it.”
Webster said the skills and confidence gained throughout her MBA program have been worth every challenging moment. Plus, she better understands concepts like budgeting, financing and data analysis that relate to her job and personal life.
“I think it makes you a really well-rounded employee for companies,” she said. “And I think you’re marketable because you understand things no matter what industry you’re working in.”
Newman University’s person-first approach gave her the support system she needed from start to finish.
“Being able to reach out to those instructors and say, ‘Here’s what I’m struggling with’ or ‘I just don’t get this,’ that’s really amazing,” she said. “The amount of times I’ve had instructors say to an entire class, ‘Come see me and we can figure this out,’ … that’s really cool to build those relationships that are going to last a long time.”
Another bonus is the effect her hard work had on her children. Webster’s kids saw the work she put into her schooling at Newman, and “they’re excited now to go to college,” she said.
“They saw the challenges of, ‘mom can’t spend all this time with us, she’s accomplishing something really big,’” she said. “Two of my sons — twins — are finishing up their junior year and I have a seventh grader, too. One of the twins initially didn’t want to go to college, but now he wants to go into chemical engineering. The other twin wants to go for mechanical engineering with a minor in nuclear engineering.”
On commencement day, Webster’s sons watched the commencement livestream from their bus on the way to a league track meet.
“It was really exciting for them, for me, and to say that I have this education now and nobody can ever take it away from me … that’s huge,” Webster added.
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