"Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised!"

 

Hello! As you know, my name is Emily Haff and I am currently the Director of Donor Relations at Ithaca College. My main goal for this website is to provide you with genuine insight into who I am as a person and professional. Therefore, I wanted to include a page on this site to share my stories with you. My resumé summarizes my skills, abilities, and accomplishments, but there's so much more to my story... so if you're interested, here it is!

 

 

My Professional Development Story
I grew up in Auburn, NY where I attended the Union Springs Central School District. To say the least, I grew up in a small town and it gave me the opportunity to participate in nearly any extra-curricular activity I wanted to: field hockey, softball, concert band, jazz band, chorus, select choir groups, class council, Spanish club, drama club, the prom planning committee, national honor society, and the list goes on. I’m not kidding, the list goes on. Here’s why this is important: I grew up in a town where you didn’t have to work hard to participate in things, but I still chose to work hard. I didn’t just play sports, I practiced diligently and received numerous awards and recognition beyond my small district. I didn’t just attend drama club meetings, I worked my butt off to earn the lead role in our school musical. I didn’t just participate in bands, or choirs, I challenged myself and earned extremely high scores on numerous all-state level solos and ensembles. I did all of that (and so much more) while remaining an active volunteer in our community and a high-honor roll student.

 

I applied early decision to Ithaca College and was accepted as a Communication Management and Design major with an Integrated Marketing Communications minor. My work ethic from high school only continued to grow through college. I was a fish exploring a larger pond than what I was used to at home, but that didn’t stop me from challenging myself. I eventually became the Lead Event and Marketing Coordinator on campus and earned the right to participate in numerous student organizations and opportunities: IC Spirit Week, the Social Media Content Strategist Team, Student Government Association, Park Peer Advising, IC After Dark and once again, the list goes on.

 

After graduating, I accepted a full-time position at Ithaca College as the Events Coordinator in their Office of Alumni Relations. Your instinct may be to assume this was an easy transition for me, but it was actually really challenging. I was very well known across campus as a student. Therefore, I had to work extra hard to earn the mutual professional respect of my colleagues. 

 

Only a few months into the job I couldn’t help but continue to challenge myself, as I made the decision to become a part-time graduate student. I love so many things about the communications and marketing industries, but I wanted my professional growth in those fields to benefit from a stronger business education. In order to have all of the prerequisites required to apply for the Ithaca College MBA Program, I took seven undergraduate level courses throughout my first year and a half on the job.

 

To my excitement, I was accepted as a part-time MBA student in the spring semester of 2016. The MBA program at Ithaca College consists of twelve graduate-level courses, which I officially completed in June of 2017. During that year and a half, as I conquered those twelve graduate courses, I was also promoted to be the Assistant Director for Events. I took classes late into the evening, but I never let that stop me from going above and beyond at work.

 

The following year I was promoted to Associate Director, Donor Relations during a department reorganization, which merged our Alumni Relations and Donor Relations teams. Then the year after that, our team welcomed a new Vice President and things shifted again, resulting in my latest promotion to my current role, Director of Donor Relations. Believe it or not, in the midst of all that change I also served as an adjunct professor in our School of Business and our School of Communications. My time at Ithaca College has certainly been a growth journey and I have truly enjoyed challenging myself to continue learning deeper things. Honestly, if I was going to sum up my professional development story in one sentence it would be this - I’m a hard worker; that’s who I've been, who I am, and who I'll continue to be throughout my life.

 

My Personal Story
I have a very driven and passionate personality, so I get excited about a lot of things, not just my professional development!

 

I’m not sure what I love more, concerts or sporting events. I refuse to choose because they’re both amazing! I've been known to take very long road trips just to see some of my favorite artists and sports teams… with friends, of course, they always make the long drives better. I’m a dedicated fan, what can I say!

 

I also really enjoy adventure and other physical pursuits, such as kayaking, paddle boarding, traveling abroad, hiking, walking my dogs, and even running these days. In February 2017 I ran my first half marathon in Disney World! In fact, I had so much fun that I went back in November 2018 to run another one. Definitely one of my proudest accomplishments thus far!

 

I’m also a really big crafter, which never surprises me given my creative mind. I enjoy scrapbooking, crocheting, watercolor calligraphy, and pretty much anything that I find on Pinterest. I also love to cook and bake, especially with my grandma as she teaches me how to make all of our yummy family recipes. I even enjoy logic puzzles, real puzzles, board games, and sometimes playing NHL18 with my brother from time to time. I like a lot of stuff!

 

What I Want To Do Next
Now that I have finished my MBA degree, I’m ready to start the next chapter of my life.

 

I want to find my next adventure.

 

I want to find an opportunity that allows me to grow while exercising all of the skills I have learned throughout my education and career experience. Working in higher education has taught me an incredible amount over the past 11 years, but I want to push myself to achieve more in this field. I want to stay up-to-date on current trends, but strive to be a trendsetter in the industry. I want to continue pursuing my passion of donor relations, with the goal of being published in the field. I've got the grit to make it happen and I couldn't be more excited to write the next chapter in my career story.

 

If you have any questions and/or want to learn more, please feel free to contact me via the contact tab at the top of the page. I promise you won’t regret shooting me an email!

 

Sincerely,

 

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