{"id":1836,"date":"2023-12-14T19:05:56","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T19:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2023-12-14T19:06:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T19:06:20","slug":"offering-support-one-student-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/2023\/12\/14\/offering-support-one-student-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Offering Support, One Student At a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written By:<\/strong> Chris Zang<\/p>\n

\n

Lending an ear when students need it is perhaps the most important job Kristina San Juan, MBA<\/strong>, performs as director of student services in the Office of Graduate Programs<\/strong><\/a> at the School of Pharmacy. And it\u2019s the most fulfilling.<\/p>\n

The Office of Graduate Programs supports more than 700 students in the School\u2019s in-person and online PhD, MS, and certificate programs. But the one-on-one relationships are what mean the most to San Juan.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents often stop by when they\u2019re having a bad day. That\u2019s part of our job, too,\u201d says San Juan, whose \u201cgreat team of six dedicated and talented staff members\u201d supports recruitment and admissions, registration, planning and coordination of events, and career services. \u201cWe passionately share the goal of improving services that impact the student experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the School of Pharmacy since 2013, San Juan admits \u201cno two days are alike\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery 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\u2019s also fun for us to catch up with our former students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it when a student will just randomly stop by to show me pictures of their wedding or to tell me they\u2019re expecting their first child. It\u2019s very special to be included in those milestones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Academic milestones are just as satisfying, such as students successfully defending their doctoral dissertations or finding work. \u201cMost of our PhD students are in school 5\u00bd, maybe six years, so we go through the ups and downs with them,\u201d says San Juan.<\/p>\n

Dant\u00e9 Johnson, PhD<\/strong>, who graduated in May, says the PSC graduate programs \u201ccould not run without Kristina. Her guidance and influence are felt from the moment you come for interviews to your final day on campus. She\u2019s more than a coordinator; she\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/a>, professor of PSC and now interim dean.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been more than a boss these last 10 years,\u201d says San Juan, who has progressed from program coordinator to director. \u201cShe\u2019s been a big inspiration; I look up to her as a mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting 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,\u201d says San Juan. It\u2019s a family atmosphere that wins over students on their first visit. \u201cNow being here for so many years, it really is a sense of community. I\u2019m very, very lucky to be at the School of Pharmacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michel says she is the lucky one. \u201cKristina is the colleague everyone dreams of having,\u201d Michel says. \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kristina San Juan supports PhD, MS, and certificate program students as the director of student services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[510,511],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","tag-kristina-san-juan","tag-office-of-graduate-programs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1838,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions\/1838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}