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Get to know our Dal Health staff better in the Staff Snapshot! We have started a new feature to recognize and celebrate our employees’ outstanding contributions to the Faculty of Health and the Dal community called the Staff Snapshot! The Staff Snapshot will regularly profile one of our fabulous staff from our many academic units. If you have someone you want profiled, send us an email at healthcomms@dal.ca.

After 23 years on the job, Heidi Tracey Baillie remains grateful to work with students of all ages and from diverse life experiences.

“You just have to be able to meet everybody where they are, and recognize that every student situation is 100 percent different,” Tracey Baillie says.

Tracey Baillie explains that while each workday is different, communication with students, faculty, and staff is a steady constant. Via in-person conversation, email, Microsoft Teams or Zoom, she finds gratification through her ability to support as many people as she can.

“You just want to be able to help them jump over that hurdle, get that piece of information, eliminate that barrier so that they can move forward and continue to be successful,” Tracey Baillie says.

The frequency of Tracey Baillie’s meetings with students is dependent upon Dal’s academic calendar — her busiest student advising periods take place before course registration and withdrawal deadlines. She strives to meet students where they’re at, whether they need help with career planning, are considering leaving their program, or are seeking a compassionate ear. Tracey Baillie appreciates seeing the relief on their faces when she’s able to guide them in the right direction.

“Students have pressures coming from everywhere, including themselves. Sometimes all they need is someone to listen to them,” she says.

When she isn’t advising students, Tracey Baillie is busy completing various administrative duties, and meeting with faculty and staff. When the pandemic forced people to start working from home, Tracey Baillie was already well-acquainted with the technology that was gaining popularity. She has been using Microsoft Teams and Zoom to meet with prospective students from out-of-province for years. Moreover, Tracey Baillie is well-accustomed to communicating via email instead of by face-to-face conversation — she often spends entire workdays responding to emails.

Tracey Baillie recognizes that students’ concerns have shifted since the pandemic began, and that students are struggling to adjust to in-person and online learning methods. Like many Dal employees, she is currently working in a hybrid work-from-home/office format.

“It’s nice to have the flexibility. It’s been great,” she says.

Tracey Baillie appreciates her department’s small size, as it allows her to forge important connections, and to feel comfortable in her work environment. Alternatively, she is grateful for the benefits that accompany working for Dal as a larger institution. Beyond her department, Tracey Baillie maintains that there is always someone within Dal that she can turn to for advice, or for expertise on a specific matter.

Tracey Baillie worked as a teacher before starting at Dal. Excited to engage with students in a new way, Tracey Baillie joined the School of Health and Human Performance and built her role from the ground up. As the first Student Services Administrator within the Faculty of Health, Tracey Baillie bridged and continues to bridge the gaps in communication between staff, faculty and students.

As her job description encompasses a broad set of responsibilities, Tracey Baillie explains that it took a couple of years to “find her groove” as student services administrator. However, she insists that the process of molding her role to best support students, faculty and staff is what she enjoyed most about starting at Dal.

“As with everything at Dal, the role changes through the years, it evolves, it is way different right now than it was when I started,” she says.

“Heidi is an incredible member of our team and the students all speak to the tremendous impact she has had on their academic careers. They often refer to her role in shaping their academic pathways even long after they have graduated, ” says Dr. Laurene Rehman, Director, School of Health and Human Performance.