{"id":6974,"date":"2012-05-04T08:38:48","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T14:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=6974"},"modified":"2018-01-12T08:31:39","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T15:31:39","slug":"williams-to-take-place-in-commencement-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=6974","title":{"rendered":"Williams to take place in commencement lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Branden Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This is the first feature about a UCCS staff member who is also graduating. More features are planned as UCCS prepares for Spring Commencement Ceremonies on May 18.<\/em><\/p>\n

The late Ron Wisner\u2019s words of encouragement never left Branden Williams, counselor, Office of Financial Aid, and a candidate for a master\u2019s of arts in leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Wisner introduced me to the student affairs in higher education program,\u201d Williams recalled recently. \u201cWhen I told him I wanted to work for UCCS someday \u2013 an idea that seemed totally impossible \u2013 he was encouraging. I never forgot that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisner was dean of students from 1979 to 2003 and died in a 2010 bicycle accident. His words to the young communication undergraduate student kept Williams on track. He earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in communication in\u00a02004 and began work as a professional corporate illusionist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used magic to emphasize a corporate mission or message, usually as part of trade shows,\u201d Williams recalled of his past career. \u201cIf the message was about\u00a0increasing profits, I might do a trick where a coin appeared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-employed, Williams said he enjoyed his work both on the stage and behind the scenes making his own marketing materials. But he eventually tired of being in the spotlight. He wanted to do for UCCS students what had been done for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided it was time to start contributing more to society,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

The thought of returning to UCCS and pursuing a master\u2019s degree was daunting. Williams admits to having earned average grades during his undergraduate career and taking the Graduate Record Exam scared him.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually, they took all my excuses away,\u201d Williams said of faculty and staff in the program. \u201cAt that point, I decided that\u2019s what I wanted to do \u2013 use my creativity to help others who were saying \u2018college is too hard.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As a student employee for the Office of Financial Aid, Williams created light-hearted videos about subjects that usually don\u2019t bring smiles to students or their parents\u2019 faces including\u00a0completing the dreaded Free Application for Federal Student\u00a0Aid or discussing costs of attending college. His \u201cMoney Matters\u201d series drew the attention of managers and Williams was hired for a full-time position earlier this spring. To see Williams\u2019 videos, visit http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/uccsfinaid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past two years have been amazing,\u201d Williams said of his return to UCCS. \u201cI’m glad to have achieved my dream of working\u00a0at UCCS.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This is the first feature about a UCCS staff member who is also graduating. More features are planned as UCCS prepares for Spring Commencement Ceremonies on May 18. The late Ron Wisner\u2019s words (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-6974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","tag-commencement"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/branden-williams-199x300.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-1Ou","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6974"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29237,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974\/revisions\/29237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}