Aces of Trades: Julie Prince helps students overcome barriers at OSU Marion
Julie Prince credits her mother for a love of helping people.
“I’ve always been a friendly and outgoing person,” assessed Prince. “I was very social and active, riding my bike around town, hanging out with my sister and the neighborhood kids. I played softball, took dance class, was a long-time Scout, and eventually joined marching band and drill team in high school. I worked cleaning out dog kennels until I was old enough to get a job slinging ice cream cones at the local shop.
“My mother wanted to be a teacher, but never finished college,” she added, “so we were raised to understand the value of learning. As a child, I wanted to be a teacher, and my three siblings all teach K-12. But I never dreamed I would be working in higher education.”
Today, Prince is the coordinator of the Office for Disability Services at OSU Marion.
“My interest in working with students with disabilities can be attributed to my mom — also my Scout leader," she noted. "She arranged for our troop to work as servers/aides at a banquet for persons with significant disabilities. This experience at such an impressionable age opened my eyes to the realities and challenges faced by persons with disabilities and filled me with a passion to be a helper.
“At Ohio State, I work with students who may encounter barriers to academic success due to a disability," Prince explained. "We create an accommodation plan for their time at OSU then collaborate with faculty and staff to ensure the student has access to and receives the approved modifications. Another role I fill on campus is as co-adviser to the OutLoud student group. OutLoud is the Marion campus LGBTQ and ally student group. I’m also a volunteer board member of the Marion Area LGBTQ+ Coalition.”
Prince grew up in New Albany, “back when it was a small farming community." She graduated from New Albany High School in 1988 with fewer than 100 students in her graduating class.
She started college on the OSU Columbus campus that fall with a major in special education, dropped out after a year, got married, raised kids, and came back to OSU on the Marion campus 20 years later — at age 38 and a single mom of four.
“In 2008, as a non-traditional student, OSU Marion was the right place at the right time for me,” she said. “I did my undergraduate work on the Marion campus and graduate level in Mansfield and Columbus, working as a student employee and intern through most of that time. So when an opportunity became available in the office for disability services as part of my master of social work placement, I jumped at the chance. It changed everything for me. It seemed like it was meant to be.”
Ashley Marsh is enrollment counselor and operations specialist at OSU Marion.
“Julie is passionate and constantly striving to be the best resource and cheerleader for each student she works with,” assessed Marsh. “I’ve watched her countless times be the voice for all students, staff and faculty. She’s a wonderful representation of our culture of caring on this campus, and I believe our students are beyond lucky to have her on their side.”
“Working in higher education has been such a pleasure,” Prince responded. “I feel as though I’m in a position of constant learning and can’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve been on the Marion campus since 2008 in some manner — student, student worker, intern, interim coordinator — and I genuinely love what I do and where I work.”
The Ohio State University at Marion is located at 1465 Mt. Vernon Ave. For more information, call 740-389-6786 or log on osumarion.osu.edu.
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs — whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at news@marionstar.com.