Meet the advising team of the Discovery Center!

Here we are! Feel free to get to know us a little more. If you have questions, please email us at discovery@uoregon.edu.

Bill Sherman
I am the Director of Career & Advising Services in the Department of Economics and also provides career advising to sociology, political science, and ethnic studies students. I have worked at the University of Oregon for over 14 years and previously worked as the Assistant Director for Employer Relations with the career services office in the Lundquist College of Business. My long background in employment services and career coaching includes various roles in the Oregon Employment Department and Veterans Administration. Outside of work, I like to play the piano.

Holland Code: SAE (Social, Artistic, Enterprising)
MBTI: ENFP (Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving).
wsherman@uoregon.edu

Elizabeth Milner 
I am the academic advisor for the UO Sociology department.  I have been at the University of Oregon since September 2010 and involved in UO advising since February 2012.  Prior to coming to the UO I lived in England where I worked as an advisor and department coordinator at City University London.  I earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering (Rochester Institute of Technology) and an MA in Linguistics (University College London), proving that one’s major does not dictate one’s career.  I bring my engineering training to the world of academic advising and specialize in helping students understand complex degree requirements and creating a clear graduation plan for whatever majors and minors have been selected – or a plan for making general progress while the selection is being made.  When off the clock I enjoy woodworking, recumbent trike riding, fibercrafts, and playing with my young children. I am a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and have undergone QAC training.

Holland Code: RIA (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic)
Gallup Strengthsfinder: Intellection, Deliberative, Input, Harmony, Connectedness
MBTI: ISFJ/ISTJ (Introvert, Sensing, Feeling/Thinking, Judging)
Pronouns: She/her/hers
emilner@uoregon.edu

Dani Amtmann
I am the Assistant Director of Experiential Learning and a career counselor at the Career Center and have been working in this position for 12 years. The work I do focuses entirely on student learning, whether though individual career counseling appointments, presenting workshops, teaching one of the Center’s career courses, or administering the Center’s Internship for Credit Course.  The journey I have taken to my current career has been a fun and exploratory process for me. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Psychology, then worked several jobs, most chosen because they involved work with one of my many interests at the time: a plant nursery, a cook, and making high-end custom wooden doors and windows for a small woodworking shop. A gig with a temp agency landed me an administrative assistant position with Bank of America, which became a full time computer help desk position after I showed an interest in technology. From there I worked at Gap headquarters, managing a computer help desk, creating websites, and dabbling in technical writing. After 5 years I navigated a career change where I helped roll-out the commercial composting program in San Francisco. After several years I realized it was time for another career change. This time I followed my interest in helping people, and after a bit of research decided counseling would be a good field for me. I pursued my master’s degree in the field, gained hand’s on experience with career counseling through an internship, and I’ve been very happily doing this work ever since.
damtmann@uoregon.edu

Gretchen Hill-Marino
I serve as the Advisor and Program Coordinator of General Social Sciences and draw from a variety of life experiences when I work with students. My academic and career path were both non-linear and non-traditional. I grew up in a household where academics were not valued, graduating high school with a 1.7 GPA and no desire to attend college. After high school, I worked a variety of jobs (sorting parcels at an airport post office, owning a construction business, clerical work at temp jobs, warehouse manager at a fine china company) until landing a career position in the financial industry. After some time, however, I was unable to advance because I lacked of some basic skills: leadership, communication, critical thinking, and more. I decided to return to school, not only for myself, but for my children. Quitting a career position to relying on welfare, to support the family, was no easy feat. I was able to navigate university systems and resources, and explore a variety of majors, including Psychology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. I ended up with a Masters degree in Geography, doing research on how a groups creates a sense of place. The desire to learn, an understanding of how my strengths helped me find an ideal career path, and life struggles further inspires me to help students along their journey in higher education and beyond.
ghill3@uoregon.edu

Leslie McLees
I am the Undergraduate Coordinator, Advisor and Instructor in the Department of Geography. I started college as a music major until I realized that while I enjoyed playing, I wanted to pursue other interests. I transferred schools and earned a BS in Zoology, hoping to go into wildlife conservation. I spent three years doing internships and working for a health food store, both of which provided me with even more skills to build on. Over time, I realized I wanted to do more research on land use conflict and headed to graduate school, earning my MA at Hawaii and  eventually my PhD at Oregon in Geography. After a two-year stint as a professor in North Carolina, I realized that what drove me to go to work every day was not research, but working with people. I joined the faculty at University of Oregon and took over the undergraduate program duties. I’m so glad I did, because I love my job. It plays on my interests in helping people, staying intellectually engaged, and being creative through both teaching and advising. I really enjoy solving the puzzles that students bring to me and showing them compassion when they have questions or problems. Outside of work I enjoy hanging out with my crazy children and fixing up my old house.

Holland Code: SIA (Social, Investigative, Artistic)
MBTI: INFP (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving)
Pronouns: She/her/herslmclees@uoregon.edu

Ry Smith
I am a Career and Academic Advisor in the General Social Sciences program. Are you having trouble figuring out what you want to do after college? Tired of people asking what are you going to do when you graduate, and not having a confident answer? Wondering how your major links to meaningful careers? Well, you are not alone! It took me years (15 to be exact) to figure out what I wanted to do career wise. I have been an army medic, a case worker, a farmer, a personal trainer, a dishwasher, a wilderness trip leader, a bartender, a bidet sales-person, and a few others that I will keep to myself for now. After all this searching, I feel I have come up with a pretty good system for guiding others through the process of finding that sweet spot between academic, career, and life. As a matter of fact, it is what I love doing! So please make an appointment with me and we can work together on discovering what your next steps after college will be.

Holland Code: SAE (Social, Artistic, Enterprising)
MBTI: INFP (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving)
rsmith3@uoregon.edu