Tell me about your life outside of OPAIR! What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
When I’m not working, I love to spend time outside. Specifically, I enjoy biking, hiking, and kayaking with my lovely partner and our expert trick and trained therapy dog, Tena. Some people in the office know Tena, she has a great personality and knows lots of tricks!
Tell me about your day-to-day in your position; what does that look like?
The best part of my job is that no two days are the same; every day is completely different. Some things that don’t change, though, are that I get to work with Penn State’s campuses, colleges, and administrative units to connect dots across the University. My team works with these units and tries to connect their work to the work of other units, improve efficiency, and highlight connections across the whole university community through various initiatives and projects. I really enjoy the unique perspective this role gives me; I get to see Penn State holistically, communicate in many different circles across the University, and figure out the best way each unit can be supported by OPAIR. I never know who I’m going to work with on a given day even though planning is in my job title, my work can still be very unpredictable!
How would you say OPAIR (or Penn State as a whole) has pushed you professionally?
Penn State has provided me with opportunities to participate in workshops and events that cultivate my professional abilities. I am also able to leverage my experience teaching as a former faculty member nearly daily. OPAIR pushes me professionally and supports me by ensuring the skills needed to progress as both an individual and an organization are present; for example, we use information gained through workshops and events to figure out what the institution needs and how we can adjust to meet these needs. It’s very important to me to create spaces for others to develop professionally and provide them with the resources to do that, which has been a essential part of my career. Others were gracious enough to support my professional development, therefore, I would like to pass that on.
What would you say are the biggest lessons you’ve learned since joining the OPAIR team?
One of the major things I’ve learned about offices like this is that they change a lot, and those changes can be quite disruptive; however, one of my mentors used to always say that no matter how chaotic things get, you still have control over how you choose to show up. I can still show up positive and supportive, I can still listen to people, I can still be there to support my team through change and think with them about how to move forward. I choose to see the specific opportunities in change and figure out how to take my work and OPAIR to the next level. Overall, we’re all here to produce quality work and represent the university well.
In line with this, I’ve also learned to prioritize creating and maintaining connections between different groups in work settings. Often times in our line of work, the data and reports one produces gets sent off and you might not learn how what you’ve made is travelling or being used. Part of my role in OPAIR lets me see how data is being used to make change and measure impact, so I try to create communication pathways between groups who produce the data and groups that use the data so that we can ensure we are providing the best support to Penn State.
What are your professional and personal goals for this summer?
There are lots of changes happening throughout the University and OPAIR as an organization. A big goal for me is to figure out how to best support my team going forward, and one way I want to do that is by learning what my team’s goals are so that we can connect previous goals with the new structures and processes coming into play. I’d love for my team to develop as a unit, and I think it’s important to adjust previous goals to encompass our new roles in OPAIR to accomplish that. Professional development pathways might be in line with the changes, they might not be – part of my role is to learn and support the growth of those with whom I work.
Personally, I really enjoy reading, so I hope to read a lot of books this summer! As I mentioned, I also bike a lot, and I’ve coached teams and raced competitively so now my personal goals are to bring new people into the sport and support people just getting started. Really, I just want to spread the joy inherent in the sport that I love- this area is incredible for cycling (and other outdoor activities).