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Jenkins MBA announces two student services staff appointments

The NC State Poole College of Management announces the appointment of two student services staff members for the college’s Jenkins MBA program.

Sarah Pickel is assistant director of student and academic engagement in the Jenkins MBA Program. In this role, Pickel is responsible for academic advising for MBA students in the full time and online distance education options. She also is advisor and provides staff support for the Jenkins MBA Student Association and related student clubs.

Pickel joins the Jenkins MBA program with nearly nine years’ experience in higher education, including three years in several roles at NC State’s Office of the Registration and Records and the College of Natural Resources, and prior experience at William Peace University in Raleigh and William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri.

She recently received her master’s in higher education administration from NC State and has a bachelor’s in strategic communication from The Ohio State University. Pickel has also completed an online graduate certificate in academic advising from Kansas State University.

Originally from Florence, Kentucky, she now resides in Knightdale with her husband and their dog. She enjoys watching movies, traveling with her husband, and cooking, baking and crafting in her free time.

“I am excited to be working with the Jenkins MBA students and look forward to meeting students and others in the college,” Pickel said. Her office is in 2103A Nelson.

Deborah Waller Wilkins brings more than 13 years’ experience in various student services roles at NC State to her new position as assistant director of student and academic engagement for the Jenkins MBA Program. In this role, she will be responsible for academic advising for all professional evening MBA students at both the main NC State campus and at the program’s site in Research Triangle Park, as well as coordinating orientations, residencies and other student-related activities and events.

Wilkins also will advise all active military and veterans enrolled in the Jenkins MBA options. In prior roles in NC State’s Office of Records and Registration, she assisted graduate student veterans and other students with registration, graduation, financial aid, scholarships and graduate assistantships and other services.

As program assistant in the Jenkins MBA program office over the past five years, she put her “passion for student development” to work, implementing a number of process improvements that have helped improve the student experience. She now is putting her extensive knowledge of university processes, procedures, and policies to work in her new role in the Jenkins MBA program.

Wilkins’ office is in 2105 Nelson Hall. She has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from St. Augustine's College.