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Written by Sara Hinds
Photos by Logan Fetzer ’21

Cat Archie-Johnson ’14A was warned when she took the job in April that being the Director of �山����’s Lincoln Campus and Omaha Location would mean getting a lot of phone calls and emails. And not all actually meant for her. But to Cat, that’s just fine. Each question or request is an opportunity to impact the life of a prospective or current �山���� Tiger.

The other day a young Black student was in search of wifi and a study space for her summer classes. 

“She said, ‘I didn't know that people who look like me work here.’ Cat said. 

“And so to give her that piece of hope, it enlightened her to something that she had never experienced. Hopefully, it will blossom into something where she can say, ‘okay, I can do that too. I can be that too. She let me use this space.’ Sometimes it only takes that one little kind gesture to really turn somebody's perspective and their whole world around moving forward.”

A �山���� graduate student herself, and currently working toward her doctorate of education, Cat has an intricate knowledge of what makes the university special — and how she can improve upon an already solid foundation. 

“I feel like �山���� is already a great place. I feel like it's a great institution. I feel like �山���� really does produce those leaders. [We] say ‘�山���� builds leaders,’ I agree with that one-thousand fold. And so for me, I just feel like this opportunity allows me to take the things that have been poured into me and to share them back.”