Inside DELTA: 5 Questions with Katie Gluf

Since her first year as a student at NC State in 2014, Multimedia Designer Katie Gluf has worked at DELTA. Distance education classes that DELTA offers were one of the reasons Gluf was able to complete her Bachelor of Art and Design degree at NC State while raising her son Finn. Senior Communication Lead Sherry Stallings and Creative Director Mike Cuales were some of Gluf’s cheerleaders throughout her degree.

How would you describe your job to someone unfamiliar with DELTA?

Gluf has countless responsibilities and roles at DELTA; she describes herself as a jack of all trades. Gluf designs marketing campaigns to promote DELTA and NC State Online, creates marketing materials for workshops and course design tools, takes headshots and shoots behind-the-scenes photos of DELTA courses being brought to life. Gluf is currently working on a Creative Gallery to showcase the work of all the incredible designers at DELTA.

“I could be taking photos or organizing all the pictures we have,” Gluf said. “Mostly though, I’m illustrating marketing materials. These marketing materials could be used in the alumni magazine ad, or for digital learning seminar workshops, like Summer Shorts. I’ll also design marketing materials for our social media channels.”

What are your day-to-day responsibilities?

As with many people at DELTA, Gluf’s responsibilities change depending on the time of year, but Gluf consistently is taking and organizing photos for DELTA. She is also responsible for  illustrating marketing materials, including alumni magazine ads and digital learning seminar workshops. She also collaborates with Digital Marketing Content Specialist Cassidy Colson on social media posts.

“If it’s summer, I could be making materials for Summer Shorts or actually photographing the event,” Gluf said. “Around the time for the annual report, I gather all the photos I’ve taken all year and give them to Stallings for the highlights. If a new course is being developed and they need photos or reference photos, I could be shooting those. If we have new staff, I’m taking the staff headshots.”

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

In her collaborations with Colson, Gluf often encounters the issue of time constraints to be able to implement their ideas. 

“Cassidy and I will create some really cool ideas for marketing materials, and some of them are not feasible with the turnaround time,” Gluf said. “Sometimes you have to lower your expectations of what can be done.” 

Gluf, however, is thankful she can decide to come back to those ideas at a later time. 

What has been the best part of working at DELTA?

One aspect of Gluf’s job that might be different from others’ is getting to meet and talk to people who have been impacted by DELTA’s work like she was in her undergraduate. 

“DELTA was a huge part of my life as a student; I had our son when I was 19,” Gluf said. “I was still in school, and I was working for DELTA. I would not have finished school if it hadn’t been for the DE courses that so many people here worked on. When I’m taking photographs of people, I’m hearing stories like that, and hearing stories about people that thought they were retired and realized they never really got to pursue their passion, the job that they always really wanted. Then they came to us and now they’re living their dreams. It’s cool to hear all the stories of how DELTA is helping people. I also enjoy getting to work alongside the people that are creating  these courses and making these dreams come true for students.”

Gluf also enjoys all of the various projects she gets to be involved with.

“I really enjoy photography and illustrations for the workshops; I do that four times a year,” Gluf said. “I joke that it’s with two of my favorite people to work with because Associate Director of Instructional Technology Training Bethany Smith and Program Coordinator Jenn Scoggins really give me so much creative freedom with what I draw for the workshops.

One recent project of Gluf’s actually ended up in a prime spot in the alumni magazine.

“Cassidy, and the Director of Marketing Katie Bean and I just finished a year’s worth of alumni magazine ads,” Gluf said. “That was just a blast because at the end of it, we got to have all four of the magazines next to each other. They placed my ad next to Chancellor Randy Woodson’s letter several times. That was really cool — the first couple pages into the magazine and the chancellor is doing his intro, and there’s my drawing.” 

One fun fact about Gluf’s illustrations is that whenever she draws mascot Mr. Wuf, she draws him with whatever shoes her son Finn is wearing at the time.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Following her jack-of-all-trades work life, Gluf also dabbles in a variety of hobbies in her personal life.

“I love being outside with the family hiking and gardening,” Gluf said. “I have about 80 plants, so we live in a greenhouse. One of my guilty pleasures is reading about witchcraft. I’m also obsessed with the Grateful Dead — I’m a major Deadhead. So, I find all their cover shows and travel to those events. I also roller skate, which I’m not great at, but I still enjoy it.”