Decades of Dedicated Service

PROVO, Utah – Jan 29, 2021 – When Julie Averett was first hired by the School of Accountancy (SOA) at the BYU Marriott School of Business as a database manager in 1996, she kept track of paper files for every single student. Twenty-four years later, the process and technology may be different, but Averett’s dedication to serving each individual SOA student remains unchanged.

Before working with the SOA, Averett first took a job at BYU Marriott in 1986 as a word processing supervisor. The position was an answer to her prayers during a challenging time in her life. “I moved to Provo from Washington state as a single mom. I didn’t have much to go on, just a lot of hope and a lot of faith,” she says. “I got a job at BYU Marriott within my first week of being in Utah, and I've been blessed to be here ever since. My job has been a great fit for me, and I know that I was meant to work here.”

Over the course of her career with BYU Marriott, and especially during her past twenty-four years in the SOA, Averett has witnessed many changes in technology. “I started my first position with the SOA as a database manager; we had a file for every accounting student—over seven hundred files. We were using WordPerfect Paradox for our database and Lotus 1-2-3 for our spreadsheets,” she remembers. 

When she began her current job as the SOA academic advisor, Averett was in charge of helping each student prepare for graduation; part of her responsibilities included distributing forms and announcements into the students’ assigned boxes. “On the third floor of the Tanner Building, each graduate student had their own box that we put their papers in, so they received all the necessary information through paper. Thankfully, now we use email to send those announcements, which is obviously much easier.”

In fact, most of Averett’s day-to-day processes are now completed electronically. “I've seen everything gradually shift towards being online,” she says. “Every process that used to be on paper is now stored electronically or scanned in.” 

In addition to technological changes, Averett has seen the accounting programs undergo multiple curriculum changes. “The curriculum is continually changing to meet the demands of the students’ professions. We've incorporated a lot of data analytics and are continually changing to meet requirements of what the students need to know when they graduate from the SOA,” she says.

One of Averett’s favorite aspects of her job as the SOA academic advisor is helping students prepare for graduation. “SOA students are all motivated, driven, and fortunate that they have so many options available for them when they graduate,” she says. “Watching them go on and be successful in their careers is exciting and fulfilling. I know all of our students represent BYU Marriott and the School of Accountancy well after graduation, and I get to talk with them about their transition from students to professionals. I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of that process.”

When she looks back on her decades-long career with BYU Marriott, Averett feels immense gratitude for the students and faculty members whom she has met and grown to love. “BYU Marriott and, specifically for me, the School of Accountancy, is more than a college; it's a family,” she says. “Among the staff and the students, we have a feeling of unity as we all work to help each other succeed. We have so many students, and I hope each of them knows that we genuinely do care about their individual, personal well-being. We truly love each student.”