2022 was a big year for Caitlyn Tuckey. That was the year she enrolled at Mid-America Christian University (MACU) and started her job as a commercial lines processor at an Oklahoma-based insurance firm.
As is true of many working students, Tuckey’s job was only tenuously related to her studies. She enrolled as a psychology major, while she was working in an entry-level data entry position.
Over the last three years, though, Tuckey has risen through the ranks of her organization and discovered both a passion and a talent for helping gas, oil, and construction businesses navigate the complex world of commercial insurance.
“I am the main contact after we get an organization’s business,” Tuckey says of her current role as a commercial lines account manager. “They come to me if they need certificates or evidence for their banks or if they’re adding vehicles and drivers to their accounts.”
After embarking on this new path, Tuckey decided to switch from psychology to MACU’s Bachelor of Science in Management and Ethics program. Along the way, she’s learned skills she uses every day, prepared for new roles, and maintained a healthy balance among her work, life, and school commitments.
A Practical, Skills-Focused Curriculum
As an account manager, Tuckey has a wide range of day-to-day duties. She fields clients’ inquiries, manages their claims, evaluates accounts, and carries out a myriad of other behind-the-scenes duties. The strategy-oriented yet ethics-focused curriculum of MACU’s business management degree program has helped her develop and sharpen the skills she needs to handle these responsibilities.
“The program has helped me with communication with my clients, like how to handle the difficult conversations that arise, and also with time management,” she says.
She notes that her classes also taught her how to use business software. “The finance classes helped on the accounting side of things. It just helped me become more well-rounded and learn how to service my accounts better,” she says.
However, as a driven young professional, Tuckey isn’t just concerned with the here and now. She’s plotting the rest of her career trajectory too.
Preparing for Next Steps
In her current role, Tuckey works closely with an insurance producer to attract and retain clients. In the insurance world, producers are responsible for finding new clients and selling policies. Moving into a producer role is one of Tuckey’s long-term career goals.
In pursuit of this goal, as well as to sharpen her account management skills, Tuckey is currently working toward earning the certified insurance counselor (CIC) designation from the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, one of the most well-respected and sought-after credentials in her field.
“That usually takes a couple of years,” she says. “It’s five tests, and I should be finished around the beginning of next year.”
Fortunately, her business classes at MACU are helping her prepare for the notoriously rigorous CIC designation exams and the classes that go along with them. “A lot of the material is similar. Especially in the business management courses, which covered things like SWOT analysis and SMART goals,” Tuckey says.
Doing a SWOT analysis means looking at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, while setting SMART goals requires that they be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. These practices are central to both the work of insurance sector professionals and organizational risk management in general.
“That really helped me. I already knew some of the information going into the designation courses and it kind of put me a step ahead,” Tuckey continues. “I was worried about trying to get my designations for work on top of doing school, but, honestly, the workload was really manageable.”
With a little unexpected but welcome breathing room, Tuckey decided to take MACU’s Social Media Marketing course as an elective. In the course, she’s learning how social media can be used to boost a company’s sales. While handling social media isn’t one of her official duties, clients and firms alike often choose insurance professionals based on their broad portfolios and skill sets. Tuckey’s already using her skills to show off her expertise in this competitive field.
A Flexible Schedule in a Supportive Environment
For Tuckey, studying the field she’s working in has been ideal. That being said, it’s not always easy. Fortunately, though, Tuckey says MACU helps her strike a healthy work-life-school balance. In fact, that’s one of the things that drew her to the University in the first place.
MACU’s College of Adult and Graduate Studies (CAGS) provides online, weekend, and evening classes. For Tuckey, the online option was the best fit. “With the CAGS program, I’m able to work full time while also going to school,” she says.
On top of that, Tuckey was especially pleased with MACU’s accelerated class structure. She takes one class every five weeks, and then moves on to the next. She says she didn’t see that format offered anywhere else. While it’s not required, Tuckey has also opted to skip summer breaks and keep up her steady pace of coursework.
Finding Community in an Online Learning Environment
Despite the self-paced structure of her studies at MACU, Tuckey never feels as if she’s going through it alone or unsupported.
“Every time I had a question or needed help with something, they were very quick to respond and did their best to help me,” she says of her professors. “Outside of just professors, the faculty, IT [information technology], student services, the bursar’s office, they were all very responsive. They’re just very on top of it and very friendly. Student service is a big priority to them.”
To Tuckey, the community-driven nature of MACU’s online programming also extends to her fellow students.
“There are discussion boards that aren’t just for weekly assignments, but a whole separate discussion board where us students can talk to each other,” she says. “I feel like there’s a little bit more conversation and discussion than your average online class.”
Take the Next Step With Confidence and Principle
With just a couple of classes left, Tuckey is close to earning her Bachelor of Science in Management and Ethics. But even though she’s already working on becoming a certified insurance counselor and perhaps an insurance producer, she feels as if she still has plenty of options to explore.
No matter what she chooses, the community at Mid-America Christian University has been and may very well continue to be an important part of her career trajectory.
“I’ve considered going back and possibly getting my Master of Business Administration [MBA] at some point,” she muses. At MACU, Tuckey can choose from different MBA degree emphases, such as communication or international business, while keeping her studies 100% online. Like the bachelor’s program, the MBA program teaches leaders to take a strategic approach rooted in biblical principles.
To find out more about one of MACU’s business degree programs, request more information today.
Recommended Readings
Business Administration vs. Business Management: Differences in Career Paths
The Role of Ethical Decision-Making in Business Success
Types of Business Degrees and When to Pursue Them