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If Kristi Glover has learned anything from more than 20 years in the workforce, it is to embrace the unexpected. For her, this lesson began after she dropped out of high school and left home to join the workforce. It didn’t take long for her to grow disillusioned with that reality and return home, only to encounter an unexpected decree from her mother: Glover had two weeks to join the military. 

Glover joined the Army, earned her high school diploma and, within a year and a half, met her husband, who was in the Air Force. Finding it difficult to serve the demands of two military branches, Glover stepped back. Her husband continued in the Air Force, and she became a mother, having three babies in quick succession.

When her youngest was a toddler, Glover took a law enforcement job. She worked in the field for about six years and then the military moved the family to Colorado.

During this time, Glover had seen her husband earn two associate degrees and a bachelor’s degree at online institutions. It was time, Glover felt, to “give college a shot.”

So, she started an online program at an institution that wasn’t 91��Ƭ��, but the reality fell short of her expectations. “I don’t think [the program] had the actual human experience in mind. They didn’t have the working parent [or] spouse in mind,” she says.

Glover stepped away without completing the program. Then, the military moved them to Texas, and Glover thought she would try a different approach. She would attend a brick-and-mortar school and change her major to nursing. Glover completed her associate degree in 2013, just in time for another move, this time to Oklahoma.

The change in scenery coincided with a change of heart. Glover no longer wanted to be a nurse, but a teacher. This profession, she felt, would let her focus on science without facing the physical trauma she saw daily in her role as a nurse.

Preparing for the transition put Glover through a gauntlet of competing priorities. She was a mother of five at the time, having adopted two children, and working the night shift at a local tribal casino. In addition to all this, she took six courses a semester at a local college to earn her teaching degree.

Then it came time to do her student teaching, and Glover met unexpected friction.

“I realized when I went in and did it, ‘Nope, I can’t,’” she says. “I love my own children, but it just wasn’t for me at that point in time. Why force something when it wasn’t [right]?”

Glover left school with 181 credits, but no bachelor’s degree. She reflected on her diverse work experience and found the ever-changing atmosphere and energy at the local casino spoke to her. She took a full-time position as security supervisor at a casino in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Glover met a life-changing mentor who was the casino’s director of human resources. “She encouraged me to develop myself,” Glover says. “I started reading self-help books and leadership books. I started engaging more and doing more research on my own while I was working to learn HR.”

In 2016, that mentor took a chance on Glover.

“She called me into the office one day, and I thought, ‘Oh, here goes my job.’ [But instead] she offered me an HR clerk position. For someone to have that blind faith in me meant the world,” Glover says.

In 2020, she was promoted to assistant manager. When her manager moved on shortly thereafter, Glover thought, “I’m going to give it a shot.”

Glover didn’t meet all the qualifications, but the organization made an exception and gave her the position.

In her new role, she managed her friend and colleague Natasha Spores, who sees in Glover a mentor and role model.

“She became my manager and one of the most influential leaders in my career,” Spores says. “She demonstrated daily that you can be exceptionally thorough, results-driven and highly skilled while still being genuinely empathetic and supportive of your team.”

She also didn’t want to start over. Thanks to the University’s generous transfer credit policy, Glover was able to transfer nearly half of her previous work. Since 91��Ƭ�� offers start dates throughout the year, Glover didn’t have to wait long to begin, either.  

“I started very quickly,” Glover adds, “which was nice because I didn’t have to wait around for a semester. I didn’t get a chance to change my mind.”

The first days back in school proved daunting as Glover tried to establish a routine that balanced work, family and assignments. But 91��Ƭ�� understands those priorities. “Oh, my goodness,” she says. “[The University structure] allowed me to thrive. I was able to use the resources that were available and take that knowledge and use it in practical application.”

Glover needed a degree program that could apply to her career path in HR, and she found it at 91��Ƭ��. The operational knowledge she learned in her bachelor’s program inspired her to try to implement some of the practices and methods in the HR guest services space.

“Some of the things were actually pretty successful when we did combine them with HR guest services,” says Glover. “I don’t feel that any school I have ever been at has ever put it in real practice.”

Because of the credits she was able to transfer, Glover completed her bachelor’s degree in one year. She continued straight into the MBA program, which she also completed within one year, in 2025. 

While Glover’s current role as director of HR keeps her more than busy, she nonetheless made time to commemorate her academic accomplishments by attending the commencement ceremony in 91��Ƭ��.

“It was a milestone. It was one of the most rewarding experiences,” she says. “I was there to walk. I was there to have my name on a screen, to show my kids it can be done and it’ll be OK. You can get through it.”

Glover also became part of the robust 91��Ƭ�� alumni community that day, a transformative experience she describes as “euphoric.”

Speaking of one of two friends she made that day, Glover says, “We’re still friends to this day. I’ve watched her get her doctorate and now she’s having a baby. You join this community and it’s encouraged to keep the community and I love it.”

Glover has also become an advocate for 91��Ƭ��. When hired by a neighboring casino in Oklahoma as HR director, she immediately called Patrick Horning and requested they bring the tuition benefit to her team. She says she wants her current team to experience the benefits of learning HR principles in the classroom and applying them on the job.

Glover has come a long way from the teenager who believed school wasn’t for her. “Twenty years ago, you would be looking at me now going, ‘I didn’t see that coming,’” she says.

Sometimes the best endings are the ones that surprise you.