See you soon, Jess!
At the end of the month, we will say, “see you soon” to Jess Turuc, director of Fraternity
and Sorority Life (FSL) at the University of Utah as she embarks on her new professional
journey to University of Mississippi, also known as O’le Miss. Jess will be inheriting
a Fraternity and Sorority life system where 40% of the student population are members.
She will also be coming to a close on five years of strengthening of the U of U’s
Fraternity and Sorority Life Community.
As the director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the University experienced incredible growth in membership and a renewed vibrancy to the community. Through Jess’ leadership, the FSL community experienced increased retention rates, higher grade point averages, and increased levels of philanthropic service to the U and SLC community. Jess focused on creating positive brotherhood and sisterhood connections while maintaining an expectation of excellence for the FSL students and their time within the Greek community. She not only accomplished these goals, she excelled in every way possible.
Now, as you all know, I am writing this farewell trying to balance my thoughts of either “roasting” Jess a bit and being sentimental. I would be remiss if I didn’t share what Jess means to me as her supervisor and what she means to our team. As you all know, I came to the University three years ago. Like many folks do, I tried to read my “potential” team’s body language as I interviewed with them. When I was assessing Jess’ reactions to my answers, my only thought was, “I think she either hates me, doesn’t want to be in this interview, or thinks I have a lot of work to do!”
After three years of working together, I would have never guessed that I gained an incredible colleague, a person who could be a confidante, and someone who I admired as a dear friend. To know Jess is to understand joy. Her deep commitment to her work, students, team, and colleagues is beyond reproach. While I am excited for my friend’s new journey, I will miss all the laughs, buttons, and hearing that my ceiling is “what’s up.”
So, I will leave my note to Jess with words that couldn’t be more true:
Thank you for being a friend, traveled down a road and back again, your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidant, I’m not ashamed to say, I hope it always will stay this way.
Thanks for incredible work, Jess. Thank you for always being there for us and leaving an incredible foundation, and most importantly, thank you for being our “Golden Girl”. All the best.
Join us on July 27 from 3-5 p.m. at the Crimson View in the Union for a farewell reception to honor the contributions of Jess.