The Department of Athletics is always looking for ways to promote the accomplishments of its former student-athletes and will be conducting a series of Alumni Spotlight's to highlight their professional accomplishments. If you have a success story you would like to share, please contact Assistant AD for External Relations Tim Lutz at tlutz1@aum.edu or at 334-244-3832. He can also be reached on Facebook or Twitter (@timlutz). We would love to hear from you and share your accomplishments.
 
Today's Alumni Spotlight features Jordan Crist, a two-year member of the women's basketball team, a three-year student assistant coach for the program and a one-year graduate assistant for the athletics department. Crist played for the then-Senators from 2005-07 before joining the coaching staff for the 2007-10 seasons. During the 2010-11 school year, she served as an athletics administration graduate assistant while completing her master's of business administration.
 
Crist joined the Senators following a standout career at Clay County High School in Lineville, Ala. During her four-year career, she scored more than 1,500 points and added 800 rebounds, earning all-area and all-region honors following three seasons. Crist was a four-time all-county selection and was named to the All-State Academic Team as a senior. She also lettered in softball, earning Team MVP honors in 2004 and 2005.
 
In her first season with the Senators, Crist she saw action in 10 games as a true freshman. During that season, she scored four points, all from the charity stripe, where she finished a perfect 4-for-4. As a sophomore, Crist appeared in 18 games for AUM, scoring 14 points, including a career-high six against Columbia College on Jan. 25, 2007.
 
After two seasons of playing, Crist transitioned to the bench, where she served as a student assistant coach for three years. While on the coaching staff, she assisted with developing the guards, scouting and recruiting, and overseeing the Hoops Club.
 
In December of 2009, Crist graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and began working on her master's. While pursuing her master's, she served as an athletics administration graduate assistant for then-AD and the women's basketball coach who recruited her, Steve Crotz.
 
Additionally, while completing her master's, Crist began working part-time with Montgomery Radiology Associates as a reading room assistant. In that role, she answered phones, faxed paperwork, and monitored computer systems in an effort to assist the radiologists.  Over the next 9+ years, Crist progressed through the company, being promoted to Professional Services Coordinator in November of 2011, Manager of Financial Analysis and Reporting/Internal Auditor four years later and Director of Business Operations in January of 2019. She was promoted to her current position, the company's Chief Operations Officer, in October of this year.
 
For more information on what Jordan is doing and how AUM played a role in her professional success, please check out the Q&A below.
 
1. Where are you living now and what are you doing? Did you know you always wanted to do what you are doing professionally?
I am currently living in Montgomery and working for Montgomery Radiology Associates as the Chief Operations Officer.  I knew from my undergraduate years that I immediately wanted to pursue my M.B.A. after graduation and to eventually work in a leadership/management/operations capacity of some type.  I didn't have any particular idea I'd be working in the healthcare industry.  In fact, I had aspirations to work in the intercollegiate athletics setting early in my career and had started down that pathway at AUM as a GA.
 
2. How did your time as a student and student-athlete at AUM prepare you for your career and life after college?
Being a student-athlete really allowed me to hone my time-management and prioritization skills, and it also really developed my self-confidence.  My time as a student-athlete at AUM taught me a valuable lesson in contributing to a common goal or purpose in any way you can.  As a student-athlete who got very little playing time, I took pride in preparing myself and my teammates for competition in other ways, and I think this translates really well to the "real world".  You're interviewing every day, and I feel that mindset of contributing in any way possible eventually led to me getting the opportunity to work for the AUM Athletics Department in a capacity as a Graduate Assistant, for which I am still very grateful. 

3. What are your goals for the near future in regard to your career? Do you have a plan for the next 2-3 years?
One of my future goals for my career is to simply continue being a leader within my organization and understanding that what I do, even as a non-clinical administrator, absolutely has a downstream impact on the lives and well-being of the patients we serve.  On the personal front, I look forward to starting a family in the near future with my wife, Mindy. Truthfully, I need to get back into (or closer to) playing shape!  I feel like I'm still subconsciously rebelling a bit against the days of those early-A.M. weight training and conditioning sessions, so I need to get over that ASAP. 
 
4. When is the last time you've been to campus. How has the campus changed?
My wife and I actually venture to campus a couple times each week to walk the track.  I think it would take less time to say what hasn't changed about campus since I was there in the mid-to-late 2000's. The Wellness Center and two new dorms are the most notable additions.  I also think back to when myself and Callie (Ogletree) Clark used to de-stress and hit golf balls (and, admittedly, complain about basketball life) where Warhawk Hall stands now. Fun times!

5. What originally attracted you to AUM as a student-athlete?
It was far enough away from home that my parents couldn't drop in unexpectedly, but not so far that I couldn't get home when I absolutely needed to (which was A LOT my Freshman year).  I knew that being in such a storied program would challenge me athletically, and Coach Crotz really sold me on the academic side of things, as well.

6. What are some of your most memorable moments from your time as a student-athlete at AUM?
Bus rides, get-togethers, study halls (some more productive than others), working "Senator Stampedes" that were too early after we'd stayed up too late, Destiny (Dulin) Whitfield and I ordering the most ridiculous food from Ruby Tuesday and Jim N' Nicks and having our weekly movie night, Guru dropping in at all places/times, and other shenanigans with my teammates (on which I won't go into any more detail), all of whom I consider to truly be friends for life.
 
7. How often do you keep in touch with your former teammates?
I talk to some teammates weekly and others less often.  Regardless of how long it's been, it's always as if no time has passed, and we'll always have a really special bond and an endless supply of conversation-starters.
 
8. What are some things you enjoy doing in your free time?
My favorite thing to do is spend time at Lake Martin boating, relaxing and enjoying a cold beverage (or five). I generally enjoy spending time outdoors; hiking, taking the dogs to the AUM trails, etc.  I also love to watch sports in general.  I don't think I would have made it another week past September 26 without college football; it was really touch-and-go there for a minute!
 
9. What advice would you have for the current student-athletes at AUM?
Don't waste any part of the opportunity you have there at AUM.  The administrators, coaches, professors and community there are ABSOLUTELY WORLD-CLASS.  It's sometimes difficult to know your purpose and to understand what your end-goal is when you're in the moment, but hindsight is 20/20.  If you trust the process and do what you're supposed to do in each moment, that mindset will become second-nature and will pay off immensely when you're ready to enter the working world.  When I'm working through the hiring process at MRA, seeing that a candidate is a former student-athlete is always something that piques my interest because I know they likely possess a unique skillset that will make them successful and productive employees.
 
10. Anything else you would like to share with the AUM community?
I know it's cliché, but my days at AUM were TRULY the best days of my life.  I can't put into words how meaningful the relationships I formed during my time at AUM are, and my experience as a student-athlete is the single-most important factor in my development as a happy, fulfilled and productive individual.  For that, I am eternally grateful, and I think those individuals who are also part of the AUM community would agree that it's a special, special place.