Julie Lane
Class of 2004

"The week of my UE graduation, I became engaged, got a great job and received the Outstanding Senior Service Award. Was I meant to be here or what?"

"All that happened to someone who wasn’t supposed to be at the University of Evansville at all! I was set to go to another school when I came to UE with a friend who was checking it out. It was an Open House weekend, and they were not expecting me. That didn’t matter. The people in the School of Business Administration said, ‘Sure, we’ll be glad to talk to you.’ By the end of the weekend I called my mother from the Office of Admission to tell her I was changing my college plans!

"I didn’t know anyone when I started. That changed quickly, and it extended to the classroom, too. I liked getting to know my professors and calling some of them by their first names. In my major classes, there were sometimes as few as 10 students. Each of us received great personal attention. I learned the importance of communication, assertiveness and creative thinking.

"UE also offered me many incredible leadership opportunities, both on and off-campus. At the Vanderburgh County assessor’s office, I helped develop a new, more efficient filing system. As a member of Student Congress, I served first as the outreach chair and then advanced to vice president and chief executive. You’re never pressured to become involved, but you would be missing a really strong educational experience if you didn’t.

"Now I have a great job as a retail associate and management trainee at Fifth Third Bank. Evansville means so much to me. I am building my career and my life here."