Offering Support, One Student At a Time

Written By: Chris Zang

Lending an ear when students need it is perhaps the most important job Kristina San Juan, MBA, performs as director of student services in the Office of Graduate Programs at the School of Pharmacy. And it’s the most fulfilling.

The Office of Graduate Programs supports more than 700 students in the School’s in-person and online PhD, MS, and certificate programs. But the one-on-one relationships are what mean the most to San Juan.

“Students often stop by when they’re having a bad day. That’s part of our job, too,” says San Juan, whose “great team of six dedicated and talented staff members” supports recruitment and admissions, registration, planning and coordination of events, and career services. “We passionately share the goal of improving services that impact the student experience.”

Part of the School of Pharmacy since 2013, San Juan admits “no two days are alike” in her busy area, where she helps whittle down the 150 annual Pharmaceutical Sciences (PSC) applications to the 15 students who are accepted. But she does have a favorite event.

“Every other year we host a graduate gathering where our current students meet alumni and hear about their careers. The networking benefits the students, but it’s also fun for us to catch up with our former students.

“I love it when a student will just randomly stop by to show me pictures of their wedding or to tell me they’re expecting their first child. It’s very special to be included in those milestones.”

Academic milestones are just as satisfying, such as students successfully defending their doctoral dissertations or finding work. “Most of our PhD students are in school 5½, maybe six years, so we go through the ups and downs with them,” says San Juan.

Danté Johnson, PhD, who graduated in May, says the PSC graduate programs “could not run without Kristina. Her guidance and influence are felt from the moment you come for interviews to your final day on campus. She’s more than a coordinator; she’s a mentor and friend. Her door was always open for a quick hello, a catch-up chat, or if you needed a place to hide or cry when failed experiments and intense meetings with the professor made the day difficult.”

A Filipino who is proud to be among those at the University of Maryland, Baltimore working on a training grant to enhance diversity in the biomedical workforce, San Juan says she is passing along the kindness shown by her then-supervisor Sarah L.J. Michel, PhD, professor of PSC and now interim dean.

“She’s been more than a boss these last 10 years,” says San Juan, who has progressed from program coordinator to director. “She’s been a big inspiration; I look up to her as a mentor.”

Growing up in Harford County, Md., San Juan once dreamed of being a nurse and worked in the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing for nine years. But the married mother of two has found a home at the School of Pharmacy.

“Starting with former Dean Eddington down to the students, faculty, and staff, there was a real sense of inclusion, acceptance, and welcomeness you felt right off the bat,” says San Juan. It’s a family atmosphere that wins over students on their first visit. “Now being here for so many years, it really is a sense of community. I’m very, very lucky to be at the School of Pharmacy.”

Michel says she is the lucky one. “Kristina is the colleague everyone dreams of having,” Michel says. “She is kind, resourceful, and creative, anticipating challenges with multiple solutions at the ready all while encouraging those who report to her to develop in their own careers.”