Elizabeth Tavares

About

Department/School/Division: Advancement

Campus: WTC

Years at Loyola: 2.3

What is your favorite thing about working at Loyola? My colleagues; Loyola Advancement has attracted staff who are passionate about the mission of Loyola, professionals in their fields, and who are interested in continually growing and learning.

What is your most memorable achievement as a Loyola employee? Two years ago, I took over leading a monthly meeting where Advancement directors look at all the gifts that are waiting for a final home and try and determine where that home is. They could be in this holding pattern because the donor designated their gift for something that doesn’t yet exist at Loyola or because the initiative does exist but we’re simply waiting for some more gifts to come in before formally requesting a new Accounting Unit (AU). In the last six months, there was a project that reached its funding goal and after watching the money grow steadily over time, it was incredibly rewarding to inform my colleagues in the academic department that these funds would be coming to them, to spend on behalf of our students. Managing this project has been a tangible way that I see my work (more) directly impacting the lives of students and while it may look like just another spreadsheet, to me, it holds worlds of promise and opportunity.

What does Loyola's mission mean to you? As a practicing Catholic, I resonate with Loyola’s Jesuit values and am grateful for the opportunities to live out my faith practice through Lenten retreats, university-wide mass, and spiritual reflections at our staff meetings. I also appreciate the diversity of thought that Loyola’s mission encourages and that we’re not required to sign a statement of faith to work here, as I have at other organizations. As we seek to serve humanity, I think it helps to have representatives from all walks of life and backgrounds to help us understand what service looks like.

What motivates you to succeed each and every day? Our students. I’m drawn to higher education as a field because I believe in the value of education. I’m motivated to create streamlined systems for people to give because education comes at a premium and anything we can do to reduce the monetary cost to a student helps them in their post-graduation life.

Tell us how you show your Rambler pride: I’ve always loved college basketball but am married to someone who is highly uninterested in sports. I’m a big believer in early indoctrination and look forward to taking our pre-school aged children to a basketball game, further cementing their life-long Rambler status.

Tell us something most people at Loyola would be surprised to know about you: While my whole career has been spent in the tech or non-profit industries, I minored in English and am just as ready to talk your ear off about why Anne Bronte is the forgotten sister as I am about IRS policies.