Simeon Glover

Additional Info

How long have you been in your current role? : About 19 months

What previous roles have you held? : Coordinator for Strategic Outreach & Recruitment at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

How did you get started in this field? : After a year or two of bouncing from job to job and feeling directionless, in September of 2023, I had the chance to attend my first meeting as a newly selected member of the Young Alumni Council for my alma mater, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. There, I reconnected with Ashlyn Bryant, someone I knew from undergrad. She was currently working in the admissions office at the time and told me that there was a potential opening for a regional recruiter in Memphis. I decided to look into it. A few weeks after the meeting on Rocky Top, I had the chance to give an alumni perspective at a Tennessee prospective student event and had the chance to meet Tela Herring, who then encouraged me to apply. This changed my professional life. I had the chance to share my love for the University of Tennessee with students from the city I loved, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I am very grateful for Ashlyn for telling me about the position and Tela for hiring me and still being my “work auntie” to this day.

What brought you to this particular role? : As a native Memphian, I jumped at the opportunity to not only share the benefits of a liberal arts education in a major metropolitan area but also a chance to share the good of Memphis and all the exciting and positive things happening in my city. I was also drawn to the team, thanks to the help of Megan Starling and Lauren Sefton who I had the chance to meet at SACAC in Raleigh in ‘24. I could see their passion not only about Rhodes, but about Memphis, which made my Memphis heart so happy and wanted to jump at the opportunity to work alongside them if I could.

What is your best piece of advice for someone new to the profession? : My best piece of advice for someone new to the profession is actually three things: be yourself, network with everyone you possibly can, and have fun. This job is full of wonderful people and you meet so many wonderful students, families, counselors, and fellow admission professionals. It doesn't feel like a job when you're doing it with others that you can call friends.

What brought you to SACAC? : What brought me to SACAC was the opportunity to attend the Dry Run conference at the College of Charleston in the summer of 2023. It was such an enlightening experience, and I learned so many valuable lessons before my first fall travel season and connected with other professionals who were also new to the profession.

What has been (or what you hope to be) the most impactful part of your SACAC membership experience? : Serving on Dry Run faculty this past summer at Rollins! I enjoyed giving back and sharing the valuable lessons I learned during my first two years in the profession. I am excited to present at SACAC in a few weeks in New Orleans with Rachel Welch from Georgia Tech and hope this can be the beginning of many more presentations in the future.

What is your favorite part of your job? : My favorite part of my job is the people I get to work with. From the students to the counselors to my team, I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best people this world has to offer. The students are some of the brightest and most passionate individuals I’ve ever met. They are doing things in high school that I could’ve only dreamed of doing during my time as a high school student. Every counselor I meet from Delaware to New Jersey to Maryland to Nashville to Chattanooga to Knoxville, they are so supportive and caring for the students they work with day-to-day. They are the biggest advocates not only for our students, but for our institutions that we work at and know what students are the best fits for our schools. My team is definitely the best in the business! Not only are we colleagues, we are friends and intertwined in each other’s life. Almost all my team members came to celebrate my wife and I’s recent wedding reception and it meant the world to me to see them there.

What have you learned about the students you serve during the past year? : I learned that these students are the future of our country and our world and it’s safe to say that our future is in great hands. They are passionate. They are resilient. They are wise beyond their years. They are truly the future.

Given unlimited time and funding, what one initiative, program, or service would you implement today : The Public Education Foundation does an event every summer at the University of the South, or Sewanee, called Camp College where they invite students from Hamilton County, the main county in Chattanooga, for three days on the campus of Sewanee where they learn about all things college. My hope is that I can implement something like this in my city and in my county where a lot of students are falling by the wayside and not hearing about the benefits to a college education. I think it will be a program that would be very beneficial for students across Memphis and Shelby County.