Meet Chris Serafin, electric trades supervisor in UMBC’s Facilities Management (FM). Serafin has been at UMBC for 9 years and was recently awarded a USM Board of Regents’ Staff Award for his exceptional work, including a high voltage electrical switch replacement in the Engineering Building that ended up saving the university a half a million dollars in contractor’s fees.

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I enjoy my job as electric supervisor and have a great group of high voltage electricians that work hard every day to ensure the stability of the UMBC power system. I received my management studies degree in 2020 from the University of Maryland Global Campus, taking full advantage of the tuition remission program provided by the State of Maryland. I enjoy building furniture and playing guitar in my free time.

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: John Zahor [AVP for FM]  has been extremely supportive in my career at UMBC. He has been a hands off boss and has allowed me to make critical changes to how the UMBC electric shop is run, which has greatly improved the efficiency of daily operations.

Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most and why?

A: Leadership has allowed me to be proactive, creative, and think outside the box when exploring the fascinating world of electrical theory.

Q: Tell us about the people who have helped you at UMBC.

A: Lenn Caron [acting vice president, Administration and Finance], John Zahor, and Valerie RiChard in Facilities Management have allowed me to run the UMBC electric shop the way I think in needs to be run to provide the electrical requirements of administrators, faculty, staff, and students at UMBC.

Collin Sullivan ’19, information systems and economics, M.P.P. ’21, is the program director for digital credential innovation in the Division of Professional Studies. While he started as a student worker in 2015 for the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), working with faculty to leverage the use of clickers in the classroom, he now leads university efforts to offer in-demand microcredentials, such as the Greater Washington Partnership Digital Tech credential. Two things have been constant in Collin’s career: his interest in technology and his love of the UMBC community. 

Q: What led you to your current role? 

A: In many ways, my professional time at UMBC found me. I began as an undergraduate student worker in Instructional Technology with DoIT. I started by supporting classroom clickers in classes all across campus. I’ve always been interested in educational technology, so I was incredibly fortunate and lucky to have had that opportunity during my undergrad. 

When I was about to graduate, like many rising seniors, I was really unsure of where I was going to go. I was feeling uneasy about looking for jobs because I knew the values of UMBC and the community that exists here, and I had a hard time thinking about other places to work that would have the same feeling. My passion for educational technology never waned, and in the end I found an opportunity at UMBC.

Q: How many hats do you wear at UMBC?

A: I have had many roles here at UMBC: undergraduate student, graduate student, alumnus, staff, and adjunct faculty member. I’ve studied information systems, economics, and public policy. I began my career in the Division of Information Technology, and now I am in Extended Studies with the Division of Professional Studies. It is without question that I am who I am, and where I am, because of UMBC. 

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you.

A: There are way too many people to name! The first person who comes to mind is Craig Berger, my Student Government Association advisor when I was an undergrad. There is no other way to put it other than Craig is the best. During my first few days at UMBC, I made my way to the Campus Life office, and Craig always made me feel welcomed and, later, truly empowered me to feel like I could make a difference on campus and beyond the loop. He taught me that even during times that feel particularly challenging, the world is still malleable. A different perspective and level-headed, strategic approach often is a meaningful path forward.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: In many ways, UMBC is a small town. It feels like a close-knit community where it’s easy to make meaningful connections with people from diverse backgrounds who genuinely care about each other. While we strive for excellence, there’s no sense of competition—everyone supports one another in achieving personal and collective success, whether in academics, work, or relationships.

Q: Tell us about an organization you’re involved in as part of your work.

A: I’ve had the privilege of being involved with 1EdTech, a national education technology organization, where I serve as co-chair of the Digital Credential Innovation Leadership Network. Our goal is to ensure that everyone who earns digital credentials can confidently showcase their verified competencies and achievements, using them in ways that best support whatever is next in life.

Q: What’s your favorite place on campus to relax or meet friends? 

A: My favorite spot has changed over the years—from the tables by the Library pond to the area outside the RAC and the Forum sculpture at the PAHB. But honestly, my go-to answer has to be the coveted comfy chairs at Starbucks! I’ve had so many amazing conversations with friends, mentors, and colleagues there. Plus, you never know who you’ll bump into. There’s just something about the possibilities of chatting over a cup of coffee.

Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most and why?

A: Working with faculty and staff to create new pathways for learners to reach their goals. It’s easy to get caught up in our own worlds and forget to pause and reflect on the progress we’re all making. I love that I get to collaborate with others to create space for those reflections, where we can really think about what we want learners to achieve. The best part? Seeing the end result—acknowledging all the hard work, both seen and unseen, that helps learners improve their lives and take the next step in their journey.

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 · 11 AM - 2 PM

Anyone trying to soothe a fussy toddler has their work cut out for them under normal circumstances. Add 379 feet of earth above your head and about 30 other tourists to the equation and you’ve got a potential disaster on your hands. But for Jeff Garcia, an interpretive park ranger at Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota, it’s just another day on the job. At any point into his hour and thirty minute below ground scenic tour of one of the world’s longest caves, Garcia might need to interrupt his historical and geological discourse (and steady stream of jokes) to address questions, the restroom needs of his party, or someone faced with a sudden bout of claustrophobia. The wonders of the cave make all the accompanying human foibles an afterthought for Garcia, who prior to his two summers at Jewel Cave had never been below the surface before.

Tools of the Trade:
Flashlight
Minimal fears when it comes to the dark or enclosed spaces
A love of history and geology
Convenience baggies (you don’t want to know)
Backup flashlight

Step 1: Know your audience

Garcia didn’t anticipate spending multiple summers guiding people underground in the most complete darkness he’d ever seen, but he took to it quickly. Born and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland, Garcia anticipated he’d do an internship for his historical studies master’s program at UMBC somewhere close by—the nation’s capital, for example. But when he applied to the Latino Heritage Internship Program and they asked if he’d be open to going to South Dakota, he took the plunge. “I just wanted the opportunity to work with the public and teach history,” says Garcia, who knows from experience that learning history in the classroom is not nearly as effective as learning it on-site. “When people go to museums, when they go to archives, when they go to parks, they really absorb the knowledge,” he says.

All sorts of people come to ooh and aah over the nailhead spar and dogtooth spar calcite crystals, the so-called jewels of Jewel Cave. At the beginning of his tour, Garcia assesses his group of tourists by warming them up with a history lesson and throwing in some jokes to see how they respond—that gives him a bellwether to know how the next 90 minutes will go. “You have to be mindful of the audience,” says Garcia. “I realized early on that seniors really like the dad jokes. So you kind of lean into those a bit more. When you have a lot of kids, they’re really just going to absorb it. So I’d get out the black light or a UV light onto some of the formations and it looks really cool—purple or greenish. So the kids are just going, ‘Whoa.’” 

Step 2: Leave no trace

As Garcia often reminds his tour groups: In the caves, there are no cell service, food, or bathrooms, so take care of what you need before heading underground. But the persistent drip-drop sound of water—indeed the very substance that influences the formations of stalactites, stalagmites, boxwork, cave popcorn, flowstone, draperies, and a long ribbon drapery called the cave bacon—occasionally reminds visitors to heed the call of nature themselves. What then?

Garcia removes from his ever-present Ranger-issued fanny pack an innocuously named “convenience baggie.” Visitors then thank their unseeable lucky stars for the blackout conditions to ease their human needs. It then becomes their responsibility to tote their convenient baggie along until the lone trash can appears in the middle of the tour. 

Step: 3 Avoid the low points

Originally when Frank and Albert Michaud filed a mining claim for “Jewel Tunnel” in 1900, they were hoping their cave was filled with minable treasure—gold or diamonds. Instead, they found calcite crystals, which Garcia quips to his groups, “Are about as strong as your fingernails and worth the same amount.” Not quite sure how to monetize their claim, the Michaud brothers invited the U.S. Forest Service to the caves, and due to the “objects of scientific interest,” in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt declared Jewel Cave a National Monument.

At the Dugout, the lowest geographical point of the tour, Garcia reminds the visitors that, “There should be no low points emotionally.” Likewise at the Torture Room stop, the congenial guide walks the group through the naming process, which had nothing to do with torture. “It’s more of a funny story,” says Garcia, who explains that Jan and Herb Conn—the couple who mapped out more than 65 miles of the cave including the entire route of the Scenic Tour—were following the echoey sound of dripping water looking for a drink, but when they discovered the source, it was too high for them to reach.

Step 4: See yourself in history

“It wasn’t part of my family’s lifestyle to go to national parks,” says Garcia. “It wasn’t until Professor Melissa Blair’s History of Baltimore class when I went to Hampton National Historic Site in north Baltimore County that I can remember visiting something like that.” 

In 2023, Garcia went to Jewel Cave through the Latino Heritage Internship Program, which not only introduces young folks to professional roles in the National Park Service, says Garcia, “but also allows visitors to see someone who is of your background and be like, ‘Hey, I can picture myself being in that position!’ Representation matters, and so I thought, ‘I could be that person for someone in the future.’” 

In 2024, he was invited back to South Dakota as summer park ranger, complete with the hat and uniform. Garcia plans to graduate in May 2025, but this January he starts his new position with the National Parks Service a little closer to home—the National Mall in Washington, D.C. “I’ll still get to work with the public and hopefully have them leave me more informed than they were before or have them think a bit differently. That’s all that matters,” says Garcia.

Listening has defined the early years of President Valerie Sheares Ashby’s tenure at UMBC, starting with her series of Bold Conversations to hear the many diverse Retriever voices. She continues to offer office hours for students, setting an example for other campus leaders to create similar opportunities in their own spaces. Meghna Chandrasekaran, Student Government Association (SGA) president, has extended the practice in her role as a programming intern at The Mosaic via “Chai Chats,” an opportunity for South Asian Retrievers to connect over their shared heritage. The biological sciences and political science senior and Sheares Ashby talk about the discomfort that leadership can bring along with the ultimate flourishing that results in finding what you were meant to do.

Meghna Chandrasekaran: As a young SGA officer, I always thought that I would have to talk a lot to make my presence known. But over time, I realized I needed to take a step back and listen. And it wasn’t listening just to listen—but listening to understand, especially lived experiences. After STRiVE [an intensive and engaging leadership for public purpose program at UMBC] and my work with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, I’m able to assess spaces in a way that I know when I can keep engaging and when I should just take a step back and sit with possible discomfort. I’ve learned a lot about listening with intentionality.

President Sheares Ashby: I am more and more comfortable with discomfort because I have developed a practice for myself. I have decided with intent that whenever I feel anxious, I will just sit up and lean slightly forward, because I do not want to pull back from the conversation. And that is my way of saying, “Just lean in. Everybody is okay.”

Chandrasekaran: I’ve been in this SGA space since middle school. I was always told certain steps and guidelines to follow in order to be a leader. And when I came to UMBC, I thought, again: I’ll follow the guidelines. But then I went to STRiVE, and that shook up my entire worldview, to be totally honest. I learned I needed to be myself, my unapologetic self. Previously in SGA spaces, I would never bring up cultural heritage because I saw that as unprofessional. 

At the same time, I was a Leadership Peer Facilitator, and I started to understand my own personal values. Now it’s become second nature to show up in spaces as myself. That’s where the Chai Chats started—I really wanted to do something to keep me in touch with my cultural heritage, which is extremely important to me as a Tamil American student.

There have been some times when my friends have complained that I’m being “SGA president” with them and not “Meghna,” but that’s not the case anymore. It is now a part of who I am, and I just show up this way everywhere I go.

Sheares Ashby: Leaders continue to grow every day. You have a conversation like, “Ooh, I did not realize I was thinking about it that way,” or “I did not realize I had that bias,” or “I did not realize that I was not communicating clearly.” You learn something about yourself every single day, and you are growing. You show up as yourself every day and try to be the best version you could be. That is actually all anyone is asking you to do. 

It is a beautifully calming thing [to know you] do not have to have all the answers. I do not have to know anything magical. I do not have to be right—and I am probably not going to be right. All I have to do is be me. 

What is next for you, Meghna?

Chandrasekaran: I’m applying for a master’s in public policy, with a concentration in higher ed, in part because I’ve experienced something that feels unique to UMBC, especially with regards to shared governance. I talk to my peers at different institutions, and when I tell them what our SGA does, they’re like, “Whoa, what? You have a seat at the table? You’re managing a $1.1 million budget?” And I’m like, “That’s just the norm here.” I can see how the structures of our institution are set in place to allow for student involvement, and I think the end goal is agency among the entire campus. 

Sheares Ashby: You do not know how much all of that gives me joy. It is so fun to watch you. This is why I have the best job in the world. I get to watch you all become who you were intended to be. In spite of how hard it is to be a leader, I watch you do it with joy. Everyone here is trying to figure out who they actually are and how that aligns with the life that they want. You did it.