Inside Look at BICEP

     Her day starts off by reaching for her alarm clock making the most obnoxious sound "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...". She rolls over, lets out a sigh, and immediately turns it off. It's 7:00am on a Monday morning, and that's when Karen Hull,  secretary of BICEP (biochemistry, chemistry, engineering, and physics) department at Bloomsburg University, starts her day. Biochemistry and chemistry are located upstairs on the 3rd and 4th floor whereas engineering and physics are located downstairs on the 1st and 2nd floor. She works a long Monday through Friday from 8am-4:30pm. Karen is responsible for getting done whatever those departments need.

    Karen is located on the second floor of Hartline Science Center in room 217.

As I walked into her office, a breeze of cool air brisked over my skin, causing me to put on a sweatshirt. Her office reminds me of a coffee shop that has just been cleaned. Pictures cover her walls with shelves full of paperwork

stacked up.  I turn the corner to see her sitting behind a big 'L' shaped desk with a computer in front of her. Karen greets me with a friendly "hello, how are you doing today" with a pearly white smile on her face.

It wasn't even 5 minutes that I was in her office when the phone began to ring. "Hello, this is Karen" she energetically says to the person on the other end of the call. "Aww I'm sorry that happened to you this morning, I can definitely put in a work order this afternoon to get that fixed for ya...Of course, I'm glad to do it... yep, you have a good day too!" She hangs up the phone and begins to type rapidly on her computer. 

    As well as putting in work orders, Karen is also in charge of managing the budget, ordering equipment for students and/or professors, helping students with their schedules, and she is the one who supervises the student workers. "I really enjoy being with the students and people in my department are so friendly and kind. It makes work a lot easier being in the environment that I am, surrounded by people who are always eager to help" Karen says in a soft tone of voice. 

    Her office is right next to a chemistry professor, Dr. Zimmerman. While I was there, he was telling Karen and me about how his Tuesdays and Thursdays are the most stressful. He has three classes, and one of them is a three-hour-long lab. Although he loves doing it, by the time his day is over he is exhausted. He didn't stay for long, Karen says he'll usually pop his head in a couple times a day to say hello or ask her to do things that need to be done. 

    Since there are four departments combined into one, I bet you can imagine that Karen's days are very busy. She looks at me with a soft grin and says "yes, it [this job] is demanding at times and since I've never worked as a secretary it can be stressful, but I enjoy the people I am a lot happier so it makes it worth it." She has only been working at Bloomsburg University for 4 years. Before she got hired at Bloomsburg University, she was a dental hygienist. As you can guess, it's definitely a whole different job but that doesn't stop Karen from doing her job to the fullest.