Meet Paul Keen, 2025 Dean’s Outstanding Employee Award Winner
Paul Keen received a 2025 Dean's Outstanding Employee Award from the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. The winners of this award are recognized for their dedication to the well-being and operation of the college and its administrative units. The winner exemplifies strong capability, commitment and service to the college and the university community.
Keen shared his experiences and insights as a program administrative specialist in an interview with the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics (CBMG).
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How and when did you end up at the University of Maryland?
I arrived on the UMD campus in March of 2018 via the Barnes & Noble bookstore. I joined B&N as a freshman at the University of Delaware (UD), eventually transferring to Georgetown University and finally to UMD as the textbook manager. In 2021, I joined CBMG as a program administrative specialist.
What is your favorite thing about working in your department?
The support structure provided by our department is one of one in my opinion. Pam Moffett is truly the most flexible and supportive boss I’ve ever had the pleasure of working for. When I was interviewing for this role, Pam asked me what drove me to apply for this position. I said that I wanted to go to graduate school and she was over the moon about it. She even wrote one of my letters of recommendation that helped me get into UMD’s Graduate School, and four years later, I am set to graduate in May in community planning from the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, all with no student debt thanks to tuition remission. In addition to the front office staff, all of the principal investigators (PIs) I’ve gotten to work with have been incredibly friendly. And even though I know nothing about cell biology, it’s been fun learning about how the work being done in the department, and my interests intersect.
Did you always think you’d work in academia?
Ever since my time as an undergraduate at UD, I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere of higher education, especially at a state school, where it feels like everyone is working together for the collective good. I’ve always enjoyed working on a campus; it feels alive in a way that many other 9-to-5 jobs simply don’t. Even in the dead of winter, there will still be people walking around campus.
What are your key responsibilities in your role?
I wear many hats. Officially, I am the front desk person for the business office. I am essentially the office manager: ordering office supplies, maintaining the copier and running our monthly staff meetings. I am our social media and website administrator, working with the college to make sure our department news gets out there. I am our seminar “producer,” making sure that the weekly seminar series on Fridays goes off without a hitch, in addition to arranging all of the travel for our guest speakers. I am the backup facilities, backup loading dock and backup IT person. I distribute paychecks for our employees every other Friday. I am our event planner, responsible for the Back to School and Winter Employee Appreciation events. I am our Terrapin Trader person, our parking coordinator and our Designated Non-Capital Assets person. I am our inventory person and I help our PIs with Concur.
What does your day-to-day look like in your job?
Every day is different. Fridays are generally the most standardized. I go to pick up paychecks at the Chesapeake Building when they open at 9 a.m., return to the office, stuff the envelopes and notify everyone of their checks. While this is happening, I send the morning seminar announcement email and charge all of my equipment. By 11 a.m., the checks are done, my devices are charged and I head over to the Bioscience Research Building as the caterer is arriving. I set up the seminar space and hope the seminar speaker makes their way to the room quickly (they typically don’t). By noon, the seminar is ready to go, I open the Zoom webinar (we do hybrid seminars) and the talk begins. After the talk, I set up the room for lunch and break down my equipment. I return to my desk and eat lunch while the speaker is having lunch with students. At 2 p.m. I go back and clean up the room, leaving it as clean as I found it. I normally end the day by catching up on emails I missed and creating the graphics for next week’s seminar, or sometimes I’ll have a University Senate committee meeting to attend.
What do you like most about your job?
No day is ever the same. I get to meet so many people across so many areas of campus every day. My boss, Pam, has given me the tremendous freedom of finding projects that excite me, which led to my interest in joining the University Senate in 2023. Through the University Senate, I have been selected for, or have applied to serve on, the following committees: the Campus Transportation Advisory Committee, the Senate Executive Committee, the Staff Affairs Committee and the Senate Nominations Committee. I love participating in shared governance, being able to meet with powerful people and actually have the opportunity to ask them questions and share my viewpoints is an awesome power that can feel intimidating at first, but I have quickly become accustomed to. Being able to do my job full-time, while also being a part-time graduate student and being part of shared governance has been an incredibly engaging and rewarding experience.
What did being selected for the CMNS Dean’s Staff award mean to you?
It was a tremendous honor to be selected by my peers for the award.
What motivates you to do your job well?
My 7th-grade social studies teacher always stressed the phrase “Carpe Diem” or “Seize the Day” to us. I try my best to embody this philosophy and make every day worth it. I like to be challenged and do work that I’m proud of.
What is your favorite UMD memory?
There are so many. The first that comes to mind is having a casual conversation over breakfast with President Pines during the annual Senate retreat. It was a pretty surreal experience that I’m grateful to have been able to participate in.
More recently, I’ve been working to get a new loading dock door for the Microbiology Building. We’ve been trying for years to get an accessible entrance to our building so people using mobility aids can easily access our space. For whatever reason, years ago, the accessible entrance was bolted to the front of the Microbiology Building, up a steep hill from the handicapped parking area. Through my connections at the University Senate, I was finally able to get the issue moving by getting it in front of the right people. It’s this kind of thing that I enjoy most - where even if a problem might seem inconsequential to you, fixing it could make a huge difference to someone else.
I hope my graduation in May tops my list of UMD memories!
What do you like to do outside work?
I’m getting married in May, which is pretty awesome. A lot of my time has been spent planning that. When I’m not doing schoolwork for graduate school, I’m probably building LEGOs, playing video games, watching movies, cooking, gardening on my apartment balcony or walking outside playing Pokémon Go. Recently, I’ve been trying to read more for fun. I'm hoping to finish reading "Project Hail Mary" before the movie comes out.