administrative assistant

research assistant

adjunct faculty

associate professor

assistant professor

University of Massachusetts

UMass Chan Medical School is a very interesting place to work, especially in IT. You're exposed to the technical challenges of helping to support future doctors and nurses, school faculty, and administrators, as well as a large, diverse research community. IT is very customer focused and each business unit comes with its own challenges. So you work closely with customers across campus to help support the work that they do, whether it's teaching, advanced research, clinical teams, finance, or department/school administrators.

IT is supported by a leadership team that encourages innovation. You're given opportunities to learn about emerging technologies and leaders find value in the exploration of better ways to deliver IT solutions or improve upon current solutions. Leadship is also excellent about supporting a work/life balance. They understand things in life come up and are willing to work with you on your needs.

It's a great place to work but there are some downsides. Growth can sometimes be difficult, but if you are encouraged to explore other teams with positions available. Performance reviews occur yearly, but hardly yield any additional compensation. Typically, you'll recieve whatever yearly increase that is given to all non-union employees, which is usually 1.5-2.5%.

There is also the bureaucracy. It can sometimes be difficult to get new projects off the ground, even with being so encouraging of innovation. You deal with several different IT teams and other UMass Chan administrative teams, and getting buy-in  can be a lengthy process. You sometimes find youself trying to chase down the right person or team to get some movement on a project.

There is still siloing that happens with IT teams, too, leading to poor communication about changes happening on other teams or with processes/procedures that may affect the work that you do. But this is getting better as of recently.

Overall, I enjoy the work that I do, the challenges the work brings, and the environment that I work in. 

Basically people want to get jobs here and put in their 20 years so they can retire with the state. Most jobs are based on a pay grade scale, which means your salary is based on that grade and you will automatically get step increases every year until you max out (usually within 5 years) and that's as far as you can go into that job, pay wise. The only exclusion to this is cost of living raises that the unions fight for, once they are given it is usually washed out by a raise in some sort of dues whether it be the unions or health insurance. This type of system/environment has created a super  breed of state workers of live up to their names by being incredibly lazy and feel entitled to everything this campus has to offer. There is literally no incentive for anybody to work hard since the steps come automatically and promotions or raises just don't exist. What I've seen (10 years on campus) hard work isn't even backed up with any sort of positive reinforcement. Most employees that I have met are always more than willing to find something to complain about, whether it be how bad they feel the state system is or  how they feel like they are not being treated right in once sense or another. Most of these people do so very little work on a day to day basis and refuse to do any work that is outside their job description. All and all, I feel the bar is set at the lowest setting for work expectation of most employees on campus, people literally come in and want to do nothing all day and complain when work is given. As an employee who works very hard all day just about every day, seeing this go on first hand can be very disheartening. Seeing people who have a higher pay grade than myself and work so much less for it sometimes is too much for me. I also would like to say that there are lot's of people on this campus that work hard and do a fantastic job at running this campus, i'm only speaking of the people I've seen over the years on this campus.

This institution is full of intellectual depth and rigor with so much to offer for students and employees.  The downside is that universities often espouse traditional hierarchies where some employees bad behaviors are coddled rather than challenged.  Terrible mangers who lack integrity and have no concept of teamwork.  The word "teamwork" and "empathy" is used often, but the reality is some directors and managers talk a good talk, but most are self interested and will step on you to get ahead.  Very toxic, unprofessional work environment with rampant favoritism and bullying.  The flow of business is often impeded by colleagues with inflated egos who treat their staff and others below them as incompetent to make themselves feel better.  Working here felt like an abusive relationship where you nervously await the next attack on you personally and professionally.  Managers refuse to collaborate with others and overvalue their skill set.  This is a battle you will never win and as most employees say "this place will never change." It will not change as long as the same personality types advance into management roles that they are not qualified or educated to do.  If you want a job where you can be happy, not one where you have to fight a battle regularly, this is not the place for you.  The only happy people here are the employees who are politically affiliated or favored.  Most people stay for the benefits and I think they just give up and buy their time until retirement.  It's a shame because I do think that the Chancellor has the University and students  best interest at heart, unfortunately ego and hierarchy is not conducive to an inclusive respectful workplace.  

Talent is a precious commodity. Apply yours in an environment where it can flourish.  It is not at UMass Amherst.

I have been employed at UMass Dartmouth in various roles over the past 20 years, and I have genuinely loved every aspect of each position I have held. Throughout my career here, I have grown both personally and professionally, gaining valuable experience and knowledge that have shaped me into the employee I am today.

When I first joined the university in 2006, I worked in the Registrar's Office. At that time, our office functioned as a true team. The staff possessed a wealth of knowledge, and we regularly supported one another to ensure students received the assistance they needed. There was a strong sense of collaboration, and everyone was committed to helping both colleagues and students succeed.

As the years have passed and many experienced staff members have retired, I have witnessed significant changes in the workplace culture. Unfortunately, the collaborative environment that once existed has diminished. Many departments now operate in silos, and there seems to be less willingness to work together to resolve student concerns. Rather than taking the initiative to contact another department directly and help a student navigate a process, individuals often refer students elsewhere.

As a result, I have seen many students become frustrated because they are unable to get the answers or guidance they need. In many cases, a simple phone call or collaborative conversation between departments could help a student achieve their goal of registering for classes or resolving an issue more efficiently. I believe that by fostering greater communication and teamwork across departments, we can improve both the student experience and the overall effectiveness of our services.

Provide advanced level of administrative, financial and clerical assistance for researchers 

Aid in special projects including preparation of documents, contracts, Inter-campus agreements, reports, presentations, correspondence, meetings, and coordinating educational conference workshops

Communication of confidential information with senior level management

Provide administrative support for selected educational programs in the Radiology Research Lab and the International Education Program
	
Prepare travel reimbursement and process contracts, sort file and reallocated monthly grant reports

Track grant-related fiscal information electronically, providing monthly reports of expenses and assisting in financial report preparation to meet grant requirements

Prepare NIH grant applications, purchase orders, payment vouchers, procard reallocations and other fiscal paperwork as needed

Work with the administrator, principal investigators, and staff to resolve problems to optimize the use of funds as required invoice and deposit checks to any income and service fund accounts

Prepare detailed data for financial reports and budgets for sub contracts, and research funds

Plan small events for department including, room reservations, catering and audio-visual

Provide assistance for researchers of all pre-award administration for the submission of federal and non-federal grants and contracts

Inform the administrator of variances and closures of grants

Payroll Entry
Order all office Supplies
Maintain all office equipment and service contracts
Perform other tasks as required

Coming into work to Umass Boston, is a great way to start the day. I will come in the office and have the pleasure to work with people that have so much experience in other fields, such as business administration, economics and public policy. Working with them gives me the opportunity to learn from them and their experiences, but also how all together come to form the Gaston Institute a team towards the improvement of the community. One day I will work on the transcriptions of the last research study on  health, and on the other days I will assist with the new research project regarding health insurance enrollment. The managers are helpful, resourceful and knowledgeable, always willing to give advices for any improvements. 
  My co-workers, are students of Umass, we all have different backgrounds in our majors, but this is just another strength for the team. The diversity among us, makes the work environment a classroom of learning something new everyday. All of them are kind and respectful. 
  The hardest part of the job, is just the commute to school; is challenging due to the lack of parking and the delays of the train some days. Aside from that there is not a hard part in the job, is nice to go to work, 
   What I enjoy the most, is the diversity found in my job, we are also surrounded by other Institutes of the university and get to learn about the research projects they are working on, and get to meet people with all sort of experiences and knowledge. All of them so passionate for what they do, and it's contagious, the passion to improve, to learn and to apply the experiences learned.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people. I lucked out that for the most part, I had a great crew to work with.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
A lot of it depended upon just where you worked. The dining services requires certain temperament and when it gets busy, you need to turn the mind off and go into auto mode. Many times it doesn't take a lot for the perverbial 'wrench' to get in the works and case that 'train wreck,' but it's how you handle it (me, the seemingly chaotic tasmanian devil (loonie toons cartoons) that gets it done anyways) that makes the difference.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mixture of not just people's diversity but generational (sometimes more student body, other times older, seasoned individuals) as well.
Work environment is pretty typical of real world, where things can change from day to day, hour to hour.  Although don't try to placate students (most their first jobs), too much but do place real world expectations on them.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
In dining services, depending upon what station you have: you are setting up your area; getting any additional side task list done; food items needed for service prepared and cooked; actual service of food (line cooking) and or assisting other stations; breaking down after service and cleaning; any prep for the next shift or day (refrigerator restocking, freezer runs). Every couple of days, deeping cleaning.

UMass Dartmouth is an invigorated fresh campus full of exciting developments from brand new degree programs in data science to media graphics.  

I have been both a graduate student and graduate assistant at UMD as well as my full time occupation as a faculty spouse.  I love the University of Dartmouth, especially after having just received a Master's in Professional Writing.  I started the program in 2005 before suspending in 2007 to go to work full time in Cambridge to provide my son with an undergraduate college eduction.  I returned to finish my program in Professional Writing in 2013.  While not all the courses I had left to take were available I filled the extra time with courses at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts.  I took drawing, painting and graphic design and loved each and everyone of them.

I am very proud of UMass Dartmouth for all the hard work its faculty - who are the university not the administration as they sometimes forget - and its students for making it a vibrant and innovative place to grow and learn - at all ages and for all.

My day starts out at the computer, updating the Neuro ICU census. From there, depending on the day I can be performing Transcranial Doppler blood flow studies on ICU patients to attending meetings. I am responsible for subject enrollment and follow up in all research studies, so can be in the ICU recruiting or on the phone conducting follow up interviews with discharged subjects. I also input research related data into one of several databases, daily. I work closely with our institution's Internal Review Board to assure compliance with all ongoing research studies.

My manager/Neurointensivist is very demanding and can be quite harsh at times. My co-workers are a group of 3 MD's, all Neurointensivists. I do, however, share office space with 2 other Nurse Research Coordinators. We work for different groups, but have a great working relationship.

The hardest part of my job is enduring the berading my manager can inflict on me. But, the most enjoyable part of my job is receiving the highest of compliments, when I complete a task to her satisfaction. Also, anytime I learn something new in either the clinical or research arena is a plus for me.

A typical day at work consisted of first taking customers orders and preparing their food in front of them, then properly wrapping or plating the food and giving the food to the customer. During down time, I would clean the work area, replenish food containers such as vegetables for sandwiches or replacing the condiment containers. Also preparing cold cut meats to be easily handled by the workers preparing sandwiches. At the end of the day, we cleaned up the work area and wrapped any leftover food items and properly stored them in refrigeration. We swept the floors and wiped the counters and made sure everything was clean for opening the next day. 
My supervisors were for the most part were very friendly and helpful. They were never rude and were always appreciative of mine and other coworkers work during the day.
My coworkers were usually nice as well and helpful. There were never any problems.
The most difficult part of the job was serving during times where there were many people trying to order. The environment could get very hectic and there was a lot of pressure to prepare food well and fast at the same time.
The most enjoyable part was serving for people and them letting me know I did a good job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Administrative assistant 11 salaries reported	$67,038 per year
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Associate professor 25 salaries reported	$93,922 per year
Assistant professor 20 salaries reported	$92,400 per year

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