Steph Horgan knows the impact a good academic advisor can make on one’s future. Not too long ago, she was an undecided freshman at NIU unsure which career to pursue.
Steph Horgan, academic advisor for the Departments of Management and Business Administration in the College of Business.
“I came into NIU…and changed my major a couple times,” Horgan says. “It is totally okay not to know what you want to do right away, and I have experienced that for myself. My academic advisor played an important role in helping me understand my interests, passions and goals.”
While she considered a variety of paths and has held a few different positions along the way, there was one constant element that influenced her decisions — her enthusiasm for helping people, especially college students.
Now as an academic advisor for the Departments of Management and Business Administration within the College of Business, Horgan feels as though she has found her true calling as she helps students through their own college and life journeys.
“Being an advisor is a lot more than helping students pick out classes,” she says. “I get to know them personally, and I hope I am making a positive difference in their lives because they make a positive difference in mine.”
Originally from Bartlett, Illinois, Horgan earned her undergraduate degree in psychology in 2014, staying on campus to pursue her master’s degree in education with a school counseling focus which she earned in 2016. Remaining at her alma mater was never a question.
“I heard how amazing the program and faculty were and had to apply for this program,” she says. “The counseling program opened my eyes to so many different opportunities, and I am the advisor I am today because of the experiences I had in this program. I also thought that I would want to be a high school counselor one day before I fell in love with academic advising.”
Today, in addition to advising students in management and business administration, Horgan serves as the faculty advisor for the Management and Business Administration Student Advisory Board (MBSAB) and the Business Administration Student Association (BASA). On top of that, she also teaches the career preparation course for all management and business administration students.
“Every day is not the same, so it is hard to explain what my daily tasks are. As an academic advisor, I of course meet with students for advising appointments, but there are days that I teach, help with orientation, meet with student organizations, attend meetings or am involved in campus events,” she explains. “That is what I love most about my job; every day is different, but every day I get to be with the students.”
Horgan is fulfilled by using the skill sets she learned in her master’s program and previous experiences but still being challenged to adapt to every student’s individual needs. Building lasting connections with her students has been a meaningful part of her work.
“Every day, I come into the office and try to be the positive light that everyone needs. You never know what students, faculty or staff are going through and if I can be that helping hand for them, then I have achieved my goal as being the person they can turn to and count on,” she says.
For Horgan, helping Huskies seems like a logical choice. She has worked on campus since
her freshman year in college. NIU has always been a special place — her “home away from
home” — with many of her best memories taking place on campus.
“My favorite memory is meeting my husband (Joe Horgan, ’14, MBA ’20) freshman year in Stevenson C Tower and then getting engaged during a homecoming game,” she recalled. “I would say my other favorite experience was going to the Discover Orange Bowl game in 2013. NIU and the Alumni Association helped provide discounted tickets and hotel rates for students to purchase. A few coach buses took us down to Florida to watch the game, and we got to be in Florida for New Year’s. It was by far the coolest experience as an undergraduate student, and I will never forget it.”
Horgan’s “student mindset” continues to inform her work, as she begins working toward her Ed.D. degree in higher education with an emphasis in higher education administration this fall. She notes that she is eager to continue to leave her mark at NIU and learn more about higher education.
“If you know me, you know how much I love it here. It is a place that I see myself at and want to continue to grow in my personal and professional life,” she says. “It is crazy to think about, but I still get the same feeling I get every time I come to campus as I did the first time I toured this campus back in high school — the feeling of purpose and being able to call a place your home. Every day I am happy to be here and absolutely love what I do for this university.”
