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Liz Adams

Liz Adams

Hi! I'm Liz, the Director of CBA Academic Advising.

How did I end up here? Well, like most life stories, mine took a few twists and turns.

I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and went to high school in Falls Church, Va. When it came time to choose a college, my parents patiently toured most of the colleges in the mid-Atlantic region with me. The Thanksgiving of my senior year of high school, we arrived in Pittsburgh, and the search was all over. I looked out at the city from the top floor of the Cathedral of Learning and thought, "Wow, this is great."

Wonderful things happened to me at Pitt. I read, talked, and learned, and I met more exciting, fun, different people than I ever imagined possible. My freshman roommate remains my best friend to this day. I returned to D.C. for two summers and worked as a White House intern. Along the way, I had a number of different majors (including biology and literature), but I graduated with a BA in economics and political science and then moved to Baltimore, Md.

In Baltimore, I was hired by Alex. Brown & Sons (the oldest investment bank in the United States, now known as DB Alex. Brown, LLC). For about a year, I worked as an assistant to the venture-capital group. Suddenly, many of the terms I had heard in my economics classes took on real meaning.

I moved back to Pittsburgh and began to work in the stock-transfer department of Mellon Bank. I found myself working on stock splits, initial public offerings, managing interest/dividend payments and other tasks bound to make the heart of anyone interested in banking beat faster. However, my interest in politics ultimately got the better of me, and I returned Pitt's graduate program in political science in 1989.

As a graduate student in political science, I had the wonderful opportunity to teach (World Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy, and International Political Theory) and also to serve as an academic advisor.

In 1992, I was hired as an advisor in the Arts and Sciences Advising Center, and three years later I became the first advisor in the College of Business Administration. In 1997 I was promoted to Director of Academic Advising in CBA. I was delighted when I was hired and remain delighted to be a part of CBA. I work with smart, fun, enthusiastic people who help undergraduate business students grow, thrive, and succeed as they enter college and ultimately move on to begin their careers.

A few links that I check out frequently include:

Amazon
National Academic Advising Association
Salon
Careers in Business
The Washington Post
CNNfn
The Wall Street Journal
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Chronicle of Higher Education