Huebsch! (There She Is)

This month we get to know Melissa Huebsch, who has been at UT for almost 30 years, first as a student in the mid-1990s, “when Austin still felt like a small town.” We asked her about what brought her to OVPR, her first year on the job, her childhood in Okinawa and much more.

First things first. How do you pronounce “Huebsch”? That must have been fun for you on the first day of school growing up.

It’s easier than it looks! The Americanized pronunciation is Hip·sh’. What I heard on the first day of school varied by region, so I grew up answering to almost anything near that sound combination. It might be Hyoo-besh on the West Coast, Heepsch in South Texas, or sometimes just my first name followed by a confused pause. It taught me early on to speak up for myself. Typically, people who hit the mark either know another Huebsch or are German language speakers… or they’re from Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

OK, now we’ll get down to business (literally). How long have you been in your current role? What does it entail?

I’m approaching the one-year mark in my role in OVPR, during which I’ve learned something new nearly every day. Officially the title is executive assistant, and I think of my role as reducing obstacles for (Assistant Vice President for Research and Director of the Office of Sponsored Projects) Tony Carna and the OSP team. Sometimes that takes the shape of convening discussions or making space for information sharing; sometimes it’s considering operational problems from a new angle and developing solutions; and sometimes it looks like managing events for our Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) team or for the broader University research community.

My day-to-day involves a lot of project management and slide decks. Tony joined the University from an out-of-state academic institution, so being able to provide institutional context and UT bureaucracy-specific tactical guidance feels rewarding. OSP, at around 100 staff members, is larger than any of my previous teams, but it’s astonishingly small for a group with the depth and breadth of its portfolio. The operational team I lead bridges OSP’s multiple divisions and handles the purchasing, events, travel, facilities, mail, records management and SOPs, systems onboarding/offboarding, equipment deployment for personnel and intake for the issues that OSP teammates and the research community bring to us.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

My favorite thing so far has been the people. My OSP and OVPR colleagues are a wonderful, dedicated bunch. I’ve learned so much about the strands interweaving the research community, and I’ve really enjoyed growing my awareness of the kinds of discovery and innovation happening across the University.

How long have you been at UT Austin? Have you ever worked in any other schools or departments?

I’ve been working at UT in one capacity or another for more than two decades. I started as a student assistant at the Texas Science & Natural History Museum, where it was often quiet but always interesting. Although we saw hundreds of school groups every year, there was ample time for supporting the educational outreach and exhibits teams (and for studying, thanks to its location and acoustics) — all together, a wonderful gig for a music student.

After a short break, I joined a Moody College startup in 2003, and for the next 18 years, I helped grow the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life and its work to educate, inspire and connect the next generation of Texas civic leaders. Passion for the organization’s mission fueled my curiosity for learning how to navigate university and government bureaucracy, and my role and responsibilities grew to include research administration, event coordination and management, funder stewardship, and finance and HR management.

In 2021 an opportunity pulled me from Moody to help launch an abdominal transplant service line, a partnership between UT Health Austin and Ascension Seton’s Dell Seton Medical Center. There I supported the division chief and affiliated physicians and managed non-clinical operations and systems to support the multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, learners and researchers.

I know you spent a lot of time abroad growing up. Could you tell us about that?

I’m a SF Bay Area native-turned-U.S. Air Force brat. We were stationed on Okinawa, Japan for four of my most formative years. It was an amazing place for a curious kid, and I was young enough to be open to a big change but old enough to appreciate the experience. We snorkeled on the island’s fringing reef and brought blue damsels and brittle stars home to a fish tank. One of my evening chores was hand feeding them with chopsticks, with tiny translucent fish bought from the local grocer. (Don’t worry, they were returned to the place we collected them after a brief stay in our house.)

The community we lived in was incredibly kid-friendly and it was the 1980s, so free time was filled with childhood quests: climbing banyan trees, catching geckos, avoiding golden orb weavers the size of your hand, and exploring the city and the amazingly biodiverse green spaces. I also learned a great deal about World War II, as well as Okinawan/Ryukyu and Japanese history and cultures (they’re distinct!).

The schools I attended also accommodated family travel, and we could fly “space available” to any place the Flying Tigers would take us. I have vivid memories of the scratchy olive drab blankets and foam ear plugs we were handed upon boarding the cargo planes, followed by rides in Manila jeepneys, humid sunsets or afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel. On one trip to Hong Kong, my family witnessed the student demonstrations that preceded the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. I was so fortunate to have received so many passport stamps this way and to see global history unfold in person.

When did you move to Austin, and what brought you here? What do you like most about it?

I came here to attend UT in the mid-1990s, when Austin still felt like a small town. Rent for my first apartment a block from campus was $225. The cultural arts scene was a little quirkier then; the restaurant scene was more casual. The authentic warmth and weirdness of Austin’s people made it a tough place to leave.

The number of millionaires and Michelin star-hopefuls has increased exponentially since then, but the creative spirit that drew me here is very much alive. Austin is still a place where you can tour neighborhood art studios in the morning, hear a set by a great local band over lunch and catch a world class performance after dinner. It’s still a wonderful place for discovery.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I spend a lot of time at Disch-Falk Field with my family during Longhorn baseball season, and we travel as often as we can manage. I sing with a few local choral organizations (shout-outs to Conspirare and Unwound Sound), and I enjoy photography, design and tinkering with recipes. I’m a lifelong learner, but since I’m often on-the-go with my 7-year-old, I get my fix through audiobooks and podcasts (shout-out to The Effort Report), and absorb as much new music as I can (curated by KUTX and KVRX).

And finally, most important: You’ve been given a time machine. Do you travel to the past or the future? Where and when do you go?

This is such a tough one for a person who’s focused on fully occupying and appreciating the present. If I went back in time to convince my teenaged mom to go to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance with my dad, who knows how it might change our today?

The title of this profile is a play on “Whoomp! (There It Is),” a 1993 hit by the hip-hop duo Tag Team.