Photo by Christina VanHorn,
UNH Human Resources

Cliches become cliches because they're true. For example: "Timing is everything." Don't believe it? It has been for Luke Cahoon.

Luke worked at Philbrook dining hall when he was a freshman at UNH. "Not the nice newly renovated Philbrook mind you," he says, "but the Philbrook dining hall that was equal parts dungeon and a 70's disco that time forgot." Then he worked at Granite Square Station when he was a sophomore and junior. "Again, not the new expanded GSS but the one where we had to squeeze 10,000 students letters and packages into a space roughly the size of a broom closet," he recalls. Luke's timing was a little early in both cases.

After he graduated from UNH in 2001 he took a job working in the Harvard Medical School admissions office, preparing applications for review (making sure applications had all the letters of recommendations, test scores, essays, etc.) and then logged decisions into the office database. He then went to work at the Harvard School of Public Health in the Office for Professional Education, preparing applications for the Masters of Public Health (MPH) program. "The MPH had 7 different concentrations within the degree and each had their own application requirements so it was a much more complicated job than at the Medical School," Luke said. "I had to prepare applications and then get them distributed to faculty in the 7 different concentrations. I also drafted many letters for our office and answered the department email and phone." A different type of timing began to take its toll on Luke at this point.

"I began to tire of the commute to Harvard," he remembers. "We were living in Dover, NH and I had to commute down to the Boston campus of Harvard. If I had worked in Cambridge it wouldn't have been too bad but since I worked at the Medical School and School of Public Health I had to commute down to Longwood Avenue (near Children's Hospital) every day. I would drive down to Newburyport, jump on the commuter rail, get off at North station and take the Green line all the way down to Children's. To tourists the Green line may be a quaint throwback to a simpler time but for everyday commuters it can seem like its sole purpose of existence is to make you miserable. So anyway, I would leave work at 5:00 and get home around 7:15 or 7:30. Once my daughter was born, that was the last thing in the world I wanted to do because by the time I got home she was asleep. I enjoyed working in Higher Ed but I also loved living in New Hampshire. I suppose most people feel this way about their home state, but it seems to me that New Hampshire natives are fiercely loyal to their home. In other words, being from the Live Free or Die state isn't just where you are from but it's very much a part of who you are. Given how much my commute was wearing me down and my sense of pride in being a New Hampshirite, UNH seemed like a natural fit." It just so happened that a Program Support Assistant was open in the McNair Program in Stoke Hall. Timing? Luke was offered that position in 2003.

"I answered department email, made travel arrangements for the program participants, and maintained the department's student database," Luke said. "Since the Program was federally funded we needed to report to the feds who and what we spent their money on. I made the majority of the purchases for the office and kept track of them all in a spreadsheet. I arranged the program banquet at the end of the year and ordered all the research supplies for students to undertake their research. I also attended conferences and did some recruiting for the program. In association with my work at McNair I was involved with the New Hampshire Higher Education Opportunity Association (NHHEOA). It's a non-profit organization consisting of staff of educational opportunity programs throughout the university system (UNH, Plymouth, Keene). I served as vice president last year and planned the annual conference for the organization. It was a huge confidence boost to know that the members were confident enough in my abilities to allow me to take on such an active role within the association."

In 2005, a Senior Business Services Assistant position became available in the Business Services office. With his history and experience Luke was a natural for this position. "I set up and monitor payroll deductions for students and employees who wish to pay UNH expenses by having money drawn directly from their paychecks," Luke says. "I answer the department email and prepare late fee petitions to be reviewed by the late fee committee." A tremendous amount of interaction with the student population is both a challenge and a reward for Luke. "The majority of students I work with are international students and English is a second or third language," he states. "The financial aid/billing process itself is hard enough to understand, so having to grapple with a language they aren't completely comfortable in can make it very trying experience for some students, at least initially. I try to keep this in mind as I'm thinking of the best way to convey the necessary information to them. Students come in to see me and they are confused and maybe a little insecure in their ability to communicate their questions/concerns. When I explain the process and I see that they 'get it' it's very rewarding. They walk out of here like they just had a 50 weight lifted from their shoulders."

"My job also requires a fair amount of writing ability. I need to remember that I am representing the university and therefore have an obligation to provide the best service possible. When you get 10 emails asking the same question every day it is tempting to "cut and paste" an answer but if you don't take a few minutes to make sure you have tailored your response to the specifics of each situation than you aren't being as helpful as you could be. Ultimately it's easier to answer the question in its entirety the first time anyway because it spares you from follow-up email after follow-up email."

When asked who at UNH has had a positive impact on her career, Luke doesn't hesitate when saying "every supervisor I have had has been very supportive of my desire to learn new things and get more training. Antonio Henley was especially receptive to letting me take on more and more responsibilities in the McNair Program office. Kim Bellio and Judy Muller trust me with some fairly complicated tasks in Business Services and have expanded some of my responsibilities as well." Of Luke, Bellio says "Luke is a quiet, reflective, low keyed individual with a grand sense of humor which blends very well in our office. Luke brings to our office his experiences within the University, both as a student and from his responsibilities when working in the McNair Program office. Luke's excellent interpersonal skills and written skills were recognized early on resulting in Luke being the primary voice responding to our Business Services' office emails. Luke divides his time in the office covering several areas, part of the time working with students, assisting them with setting up payroll deductions, reviewing and analyzing their accounts, assisting with their questions and concerns."

What does Luke enjoy most about working at UNH? "I enjoy the sense of community here. I think the university is the perfect size. It's large enough to offer a lot of cultural and educational experiences for its students and employees but small enough that you don't feel like a number. The tuition waiver doesn't hurt either." Luke intends to make use of the tuition waiver benefit as he has his eyes on the MPA program here at UNH. "I want to further my career within higher education but want to maintain some flexibility in case an opportunity comes up outside of higher ed further on down the road," he explains. "I think that is what attracted me to the MPA program. The evening classes, the flexibility in career options, and the good reputation of the program."

Luke manages to stay just as active outside of the workplace as well. He and his wife (Cate) and daughter (Audrey, 4 years old) bought a condo in Rochester last winter and have been undertaking home improvement projects ever since. "I used to hate Home Depot before I was a home owner. Now, I still hate Home Depot, but at least I can justify spending 15 minutes searching a warehouse for woodscrews."

As for hobbies, Luke says "I like to read and I'm a big movie buff. I'll read almost anything. You know, Dora the explorer, Blues Clues, Goodnight Moon, the classics. Okay, so when I'm not reading to my daughter I like to read historical novels, Stephen King, Tolkien etc. I go through phases where I'll read four or five books by the same author and then move on to something else. With movies I'm all over the place. I love stupid comedies but I also like crime dramas, historical dramas, pretty much anything with Anthony Hopkins (he's good even in bad movies, if that makes any sense). I'm an obsessed Red Sox and Patriots fan, and I like to cook. I'd like to say that I'm a foodie but I can't quite afford to be a true foodie yet. So, maybe an aspiring foodie?"