Regis Staff Member Maryjane (M.J.) Barron BA ’12, MA ’20 Readies for her own Commencement
Asked to suggest a few of the many students with compelling stories who will be receiving their degrees on May 8, Dean of Graduate Admission Shelagh Tomaino did not have to look further than her own office where Maryjane Barron serves as Manager of Graduate Enrollment. “I love MJ,” Tomaino raves. “She is a quiet task-master who knows her stuff! She has an unmatched work ethic, too.”
A communications major in the undergraduate and graduate programs at Regis, M.J. said she never thought of herself as a technical person, but in eight years working in Graduate Admission, she “gained amazing experience that can be expanded in my current role but also can be applicable in so many work areas.”
Alternating roles between staff member and student can be challenging but M.J. found that “As the program progressed, I truly saw how beneficial the courses I was taking were to my professional experience.”
Still, data management is a far cry from strategic communications, which she studied as a graduate student, never mind her original ambition: “I always thought I wanted to be a teacher,” she recalls. “I was not a great student growing up and I wanted to help students who struggled in the classroom as I did. There were a few teachers growing up that never gave up on me and I wanted to do the same for other students.”
Her contribution to Regis undergraduate students included coaching the women’s tennis team. M.J. played tennis as an undergraduate and in 2018, the head coach asked if she would serve as support staff. “I truly appreciate the time I have spent with and the relationships I have formed with these women,” she writes. “I think this time spent together has been beneficial for myself and the team.”
Fortunately, M.J. will remain at Regis even now that her student days are ending. But one day, her alma mater may have to compete with her dream job as an event planner—or hire her to plan future commencements.
