Maggie Beeber has dedicated her career to advising and helping license students as teachers as the School of Education Undergraduate Advising Coordinator and Teacher Certification Officer. It was the job she never knew she wanted.
As an elementary education major at UW-Stevens Point in the late 80s, she worked in the school’s office, assisting students who at the time did not have an advising center. When she was finishing student teaching in 1989, she was approached by education chair Nancy Kaufman to work for them and help set up the office of the department’s first full-time adviser. Within a few years, that adviser retired. Beeber applied for her job and was hired.
“That was a life changing decision for me, but I was willing to go for it and I have never looked back,” she said. “This job and the people I get to work with are a true blessing in my life.”
Today, the department’s Academic and Career Advising Center serves almost 1,000 students and has nearly 100 percent job placement. Beeber and others in the center help students by distributing a weekly newsletter, holding job fairs, sharing job opportunities and connecting students to career specialists on campus.
“I get the opportunity to work with highly motivated students who have a passion for working with children,” Beeber said. “They approach their future profession with integrity and excitement and are willing to grow and learn. “
Some of her most exciting work is with those who have struggled and found their way with guidance and support, she said. “They have a deep understanding of how important relationships with their own students will be when they become teachers.”
Beeber has also served as co-adviser for the Student Wisconsin Education Association (now Aspiring Educators), which is the largest chapter in the state. The organization has earned numerous campus, state and national awards.
It’s inspiring to work with students, from their first year on campus throughout their journey, and to see who they become at the end of their student teaching semester, she said. “Their work motivates me to be the best resource I can be for them.”