Behind the Scenes at Bryan University: Meet Admissions Team Lead Ashley Woodman 

Behind every successful graduate of Bryan University, is a team of people dedicated to helping students reach their goals. We love shining a light on a member of that team every month, and this month we’re getting to know Ashley Woodman, a Team Lead in the Admissions Department. 

Ashley joined the BU team nearly four years ago. She stumbled across the job listing during the COVID-19 pandemic when her in-person job shut down. “This was just like a really perfect opportunity to be able to work from home and still stay in the education field.” 

Before joining BU, Ashley studied and worked in secondary education, specifically English, and in the preschool setting. She’s always been passionate about education and curious about what the adult-side of education was like. 

In addition to working at BU, she’s also a student! She’s recently completed her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Concentration in Human Resources Management. She enjoyed being a student and the unique perspective it gives her with students. 

“It’s been really great because I’ve been able to give insight to students,” she said. “It’s helped me help students because I can actually see how the platform works.” 

Ashley is a key part of the student journey at BU. She offers prospective students support from their first call through enrollment. She takes the time to understand each student’s interests and goals, then walks them through enrollment and answers any questions they have.

“It’s a lot of onboarding and then answering inquiries and working with them even through the first two weeks of class. We work with someone from the moment they call in all the way until two weeks into them starting classes. So we work with people for a long time, sometimes over a month or two.” 

Admissions representatives are there from day one, helping students take the first big steps at BU, but they don’t get to stay with students through the whole process. Ashley said she loves that she gets to help set students up for success and be that support for them as they get started. 

“It’s really special to know you are that person they can call. I’ve even had students who will sometimes call just to talk about things that are going on in their life, and you can kind of be like, how’s this going for your family,” she said. “Just getting to know them on a more personal level.” 

She loves her team at BU, she said they help her stay motivated and they all help each other. 

“We’ve all gotten super close. Our team is really great about team building, every couple of months we meet and do a dinner or something,” she said. “We actually have taken trips out of state to meet some of the people on our team that live in Florida or Texas.” 

She’s grateful to be able to work remotely and the work/life balance it provides. 

“It allows me to be able to take my lunches whenever I can and go to the little in-school activities or the spring concerts — all the things that the kids do that if we were working in person, we wouldn’t really be able to do,” she said

She hopes to continue to grow within BU and is excited about the possibilities now that she’s finished her degree. 

Outside of work, she enjoys getting outside with her kids. She said, “Being in Arizona, it’s very desert-y. So there are a lot of trails with wildlife and all the fun stuff that you can walk through,” she said. “My kids are really into rock hunting and looking for rocks. So we’ll go collect cool rocks from places.” 

She said family time is really important to her and at home, she loves playing the Nintendo Switch with her kids and by herself. If she had to pick something she couldn’t live without she said it would be her kids, her cat, then her Switch. 

She also enjoys traveling, which she hopes to do more of when her kids are older. She aspires one day to work with other young mothers. She would also love to write a children’s book one day, which relates back to her passion for education and her focus on English. 

She said the best advice she’s ever received was from her dad, when he said, “if you’re ever unhappy with where you are in life, the biggest lie people believe is that you’re too busy. Too busy to go back to school or move up within your job or look for something different. If it’s something important, you can make time for it.” 

Her advice to anyone just starting their career in admissions is to remember your impact on the hard days. 

“You have to really try to remember the why — why are we doing this? It’s to help students,” she said. “We’re helping people change their lives. We’re giving them something. Lives are being changed and they’re getting opportunities that they didn’t have before they had their degree.” 

She added, “I would tell anybody who is just starting out to remember those moments for later when you’re having a hard time, or you’re having a rough day, or when things are kind of slow.” 

If you’re considering a career at Bryan University, Ashley says: “You’re going to come into a place that has an awesome culture. We all work together, we’re all on the same team. You’re going to have support.” 

Each month, we shine a light on one of our amazing team members through the Bryan University Employee Spotlight. Every employee is eligible. Want to join our team? Explore Careers at Bryan University!