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Tricia Buchholz said she turned around in her chair when her Ivy Tech Community College professor said to her "I think you need to think about going to law school."

"I wanted to see who she was talking to," Buchholz said. The professor was the head of the school's criminal justice department at the Lafayette, Indiana, campus.

Buchholz, who is originally from Lafayette, Indiana, says she wasn't as focused on academics in high school as she might have been. The encouragement from that professor was enough to convince her to transfer to Indiana State University, where she completed her undergraduate studies in 2008. After graduation, Buchholz set to work in Tippecanoe County in programs aimed at keeping youths out of the criminal justice system, everything from truancy mediation to home detention. She grew into a role where she coordinated evidence-based programs, and trained others. She did that for about five years. She began to think about what would be next in her career, and considered a master's degree in social work, but that chat with the Ivy Tech professor came back to her. Buchholz took the LSAT, and decided to go to law school full time at IU McKinney.

At IU McKinney, where Buchholz graduated in 2016 with a Graduate Certificate in Advocacy Skills, she did a little bit of everything. She was active in moot court, took classes in family law, did some work in the juvenile justice area, criminal defense, and did enough pro bono work to receive a Dean Emeritus Norman Lefstein award from the law school.

But she found her calling in Professor Cynthia Baker's higher education law class. "I realized quickly that I had a passion for higher education, particularly in the area of compliance," Buchholz said. "That was the work I wanted to do."

Committed to finding a job in higher education, Buchholz opened herself up to a nationwide job search and waited until she found her ideal job.

"Law school at IU McKinney reprogrammed my brain," Buchholz said. "I was trained how to think critically. With my transferrable skills, along with my legal education, I knew that if someone would just call me, they'd get it."

Somebody did, and Buchholz began working as the Assistant Director in the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities at Florida State University in August 2017. In this role, she is the primary staff member responsible for processing and coordinating the adjudication of Title IX cases in the form of investigative reports that the office receives from the university's Title IX office. She received the Division of Student Affairs at FSU's New Employee of the Year Award in May 2018.

Ivy Tech will add to Buchholz's list of honors from colleges and universities when she receives one of its Distinguished Alumni Awards. Buchholz will receive the honor at a reception on December 5 in Indianapolis.