It has been an action-packed five years at HLC for Julia Goeke. She served in associate and coordinator roles on HLC’s Accreditation Services team before assuming her current role as Peer Corps Relations and Services Coordinator, which so far may be her favorite position.   

Tell us about yourself and your work with HLC. 

I grew up in St. Louis and moved to Chicago after graduating from college in Ohio. I have worked for a variety of nonprofits and for several years in for-profit education in prior-learning assessment. I started at HLC in November 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and did not meet all my coworkers in person for more than a year. In my first role with HLC, I worked to support the team coordination process and with other data integrity needs for our various systems. My second role involved setting accreditation teams for various pathways visits and multi-location visits. In my current role, I support and help train our amazing peer reviewers.  

What’s been your most challenging project thus far?

My most challenging project was coordinating the multi-location visits from start to finish. It is a surprisingly complicated process with many logistics to oversee. My favorite part was learning about the breadth of educational offerings at institutions’ additional locations, particularly the workforce training opportunities for students in dual credit and correctional facility programs. I enjoyed reading stories in some of the reports about how communities work together to bring about a new educational offering, often with job training to under-resourced areas. 

What’s been your most memorable HLC experience? 

There have been several! I am often in awe of the major events HLC arranges with our limited number of staff. However, probably my most memorable experience has been the opportunity to observe a comprehensive evaluation visit at a local Chicago college. This is the heart of HLC’s work and it was so valuable to see the process in action. I got to meet a very diligent team of peer reviewers working through a vast amount of data and attending meetings to ensure quality assurance and adherence to the Criteria for Accreditation. It was a wonderful experience to witness our volunteers in action and observe college students learning and being supported.  

 What is your pro tip for anyone new to HLC?  

When I first started at HLC, multiple colleagues told me it would be a two-year learning curve to become fully versed in our work. This sounded like a very long time to me! Fittingly, it took me about two-and-a-half years to fully understand the wisdom of these words. My advice is to give yourself plenty of time to become acclimated and keep asking questions, even if it seems like you should know the answer by now. 

What do you like to do in your free time?  

In my free time, I am mostly chasing around and caring for my two young children. I also enjoy gardening both at home and in a community setting at a local park, where I grow a variety of flowers and veggies. Now that my children are getting a little older, I am beginning to take them on road trips to visit cities and natural treasures. This summer, we took our longest trip yet to the South Carolina coast! I’d love for them one day to experience some of my favorite destinations in Southeast Asia, where I learned to cook ethnic dishes; Scotland, where I hiked more than 80 miles; and Iowa, which I have biked across on what’s known as the Ragbrai.