Trish Wright is known as the "degree whisperer" at the University of New England, where she has helped generations of students achieve their study ambitions during her 45-year career at the Armidale campus.
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And on April 28, she was handed the university's highest gong for non-academic staff - the Distinguished Service Medal, an award equivalent to that of honorary doctorate.
"I have always wanted to help people, whether that be students or staff," Ms Wright said.
"Students are not a number to me; they are a person. When you get to know the person and their ambitions, you can help them achieve those ambitions."
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Ms Wright's own dreams of becoming a nurse were dashed following a troubled childhood that led her to being placed in the Armidale [children's] Coventry Home.
There, her guardian at the time said she would not make a good nurse and instead gave her two other options: finish school or go to TAFE.
So, she completed a secretarial course in 1977, and began working as an administrator at UNE the following year.
She has stayed there ever since, progressing through the corporate ranks as a course manager until she settled in her niche area at the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
"I've had students and academics in tears in my room," Ms Wright says.
"They can talk to me in confidence and often I understand, because I have been through it myself."
The award recognises Ms Wright's distinguished service, management and attention to detail, and especially her care and compassion towards students and fellow colleagues.
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