January 2017
About
Department/School/Division: Bursar’s Office
Campus: Lake Shore Campus
Years at Loyola: 2 years
What is your favorite thing about working at Loyola?
One of best perks of working at Loyola, for me, is being able to utilize the library which gives employees access to many books and research databases like JSTOR, the OED, a digital version of The Chicago Manual of Style, to name just a few that I have used. Being employed at Loyola is like being a student again. That even members of the staff should be learning along with the students that we serve is probably what makes Loyola a thorough community of learning. So, to answer the question, the best thing about working here is being given so many opportunities to be students again.
What is your most memorable achievement as a Loyola employee?
Completing the LUC & Me program was a memorable experience. This was a mentoring program that allowed me to get to know another staff member in a different department to learn new and unfamiliar things. The existence of the program speaks to the learning environment that exists for staff members. My mentor was Carlos Jarrin and our meetings were like courses in project management.
What does Loyola's mission mean to you?
The mission, which I expected to state only what we aspire to be, at the same time states who we are. The first thing that stands out to me, as a minority, is that the mission states that we are a “diverse community.” On my first visit to campus, I saw people from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds and wondered how such a diverse student body could cohere as a community at a Catholic university. The mission appears to guide in understanding that question by suggesting that God is ubiquitous and by establishing a common goal based on values that we share as human beings.
What motivates you to succeed each and every day?
Despite the fact that we have ample chairs at Loyola, I will sometimes see a student, with a book, sitting on the ground in a posture that indicates that they are struggling to learn something. The striving to learn that I witness in students across campus fills me with compassion and infuses my work with meaning.
Tell us how you show your Rambler pride.
I have a t-shirt that I got from participating in an Ignatian Service Day. I forget exactly what the shirt says, but it emphasizes the “action” part of “contemplatives in action” and, since I tend to be lost in thought when I am working out, I find it an appropriate display of acting and contemplating at the same time.
Tell us something most people at Loyola would be surprised to know about you.
About once a month I treat myself to the poisonous ackee fruit for breakfast
