Alyssa Briggs joined the college early in November 2019 as an Administrative Specialist II for CBE. In this position, her duties include details like payroll for staff, faculty, and students, plus travel reimbursement.
She also welcomes and assists visiting scholars into the department, helps plan and execute weekly seminars, hires new employees, and helps with any HR issues & concerns.
“I feel that one of my best qualities is being a listening ear,” she said. “I feel like any student, faculty, or staff should know that my door is always open whether you need encouragement, advice, or motivation and I would be happy to help in any way.”
Briggs grew up traveling with her family as her father’s position with the Navy took them to different home bases.
“I was born in Rhode Island, where my parents are originally from, and moved around to California, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and finally residing in Mississippi for the majority of my life,” she said. “I call Mississippi my ‘home,’ but Rhode Island definitely is important to me.”
Briggs attended Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College for two years and managed a restaurant while being a full-time student. She transferred to Mississippi State University and continued to pursue business management with an emphasis in human resources.
“I continued to manage a restaurant through my time in Starkville and landed a job with Target as an assistant store manager over human resources in Memphis,” she said. She stayed with Target for almost four years before moving to a corporate human resources role with Corky’s BBQ.
“After two years with Corky’s, I decided I needed a change and wanted to pursue something fairly challenging,” said Briggs. The hunt for a challenge brought her to Knoxville in the middle of football season.
“I moved in two days before the Mississippi State game here in Knoxville—because college football is most important,” she said.
Beyond that popular pastime and tackling administrative challenges, Briggs enjoys trying out local dark beer, UT volleyball games, traveling, sitting on a beach with a book in hand, and online shopping.