After 18 1/2 years in the Student Financial Aid Office, Jane Barnett has resigned as assistant director of financial aid at Iowa State to accept a job with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) in Washington, D.C.

In October, Barnett will become assistant director of operations at AACRAO, which is an international, nonprofit, professional organization that provides advice on student services, information technology and enrollment options to college offices around the world.

“This position combines my experience on campus and lets me work with a professional organization,” Barnett said.

In addition to financial aid counseling and coordinating student employment programs, Barnett has been a four-year faculty adviser for Veishea, a chapter adviser for Alpha Phi sorority, served as president for the National Student Employment Association, worked on the Job Board (ISU’s online job search program) and served on the Commission on the Status of Women committee.

She has also been active with the Iowa State Leadership program, and was selected by students for the Order of the Omega for her work with the greek system and Veishea.

After 24 years in college administration at the University of California at San Diego, a Denver community college and finally ISU, the move to a strictly professional organization will be a change for Barnett.

Barnett said that although she is excited to move back to a larger city, she will miss the close interaction with students she had at ISU.

“I love working with students,” Barnett said. “That’s been the most difficult part [to leave behind].”

Barnett is not the first financial aid director to leave ISU for AACRAO. Former director Jerry Sullivan left in 1987 and is currently the executive director of AACRAO.

Barnett’s last day at ISU will be Sept. 15.