May 2018 Staff Senate Spotlight

Kelly Perritt

How did you get to UNT?

I recently came back to UNT to finish my Bachelor’s Degree, which I started working on in the early 90s (BA in Art History).  I took a break from school in 1996 to start a family and subsequently loved being a stay-at-home mom. I was fortunate enough to be able to do that so my break from school lasted a really long time.  Fast forward about 20 years… I got my children mostly raised (one was a senior in high school and the other was starting third grade), so I decided it was time for me to go back to school. It was really easy to register for classes (I don’t even want to talk about how we used to do that…on paper with pencil in the coliseum) so I took six hours each semester and over the summer for two years and graduated the summer of 2016 with a BS in Integrated Studies (Art History, International Studies, and Sociology).

I have loved UNT since I first stepped onto campus way back when and continue to enjoy being on the ever more beautiful and always improving campus (I am super excited about the new CVAD building!) so I applied for a couple of part-time positions at UNT at the end of 2016. One of the positions was with TAMS, which I wasn’t familiar with; but upon interviewing with Laura Beauchamp and Mary Collins, I found that I was not only excited about working in such a unique university program for high school students, but that I was also impressed with how warm and sincere both Laura and Mary seemed to be, so when I was offered that position that December, I jumped on the offer and started work the first week of January, 2017.

Have you won any awards or had any recognition while at UNT that you are proud of?

I did graduate magna cum laude, which I am proud of. 

What do you do at UNT?

I assist Laura Beauchamp in TAMS admissions.  Each year, there are several hundred applicants to the TAMS program. The applicants are usually in tenth grade, sometimes in ninth, and they are required to submit transcripts of their grades from the seventh-grade year through the present year, several teachers’ evaluations, SAT scores, as well as other required documents. I work with her to keep all incoming documents organized and electronically linked to each applicant’s file as they work to complete their application by the deadline. I also assist her in taking phone calls from applicants and their parents, especially as deadlines approach, as they scramble to make sure that they meet all of the requirements to be considered for an interview.

Documentation and linking of documents continues throughout the interview process and the meeting of the selection committee. Once an applicant has either been invited to attend TAMS, been placed on the list of alternates, or sent a letter of denial, the documentation process of admissions comes to a conclusion as TAMS Academics and TAMS Student Life departments accept the admitted students and take over subsequent documentation processes. TAMS Admissions and Recruitment also hosts Preview Days, Interview Days, and Selection Committee meetings.  I assist Laura as well as Mary Collins in various degrees with those events.

What is your favorite part of working at UNT?

The people I work with are wonderful and fun, and I get to work on a university campus and be a part of the excitement that comes with being around and among college students.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love hanging out with my family, reading anything and everything, leading a beautiful group of ladies in Bible Study at my church, working out and doing yoga, meeting up with friends for coffee or lunch.